Russia now controls more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s Donetsk region — the main theater of the ground war. Russian forces have carved out a 10-mile-deep pocket around the Ukrainian troops defending the crucial city of Kostiantynivka, partly surrounding them from the east, south and west.

Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) said Russia began to hit enlistment centers in recent weeks in a concerted effort to disrupt Ukraine's mobilization. Olha Polishchuk, ACLED's Eastern Europe research manager,

Russian strikes killed three people across Ukraine on Saturday, authorities said, while Moscow had to briefly suspend trains in its southern Rostov region after an overnight drone attack by Kyiv.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday predicted the Russian economy would withstand the European Union's latest sanctions package and said Moscow would intensify its strikes against Ukraine.

Europe will not back down in its support for Ukraine. The EU will keep raising the pressure until Russia ends its war,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in a statement.

The European Union and Britain on Friday ramped up pressure on Russia over its war on Ukraine, targeting Moscow’s energy sector, shadow fleet of aging oil tankers and military intelligence service with new sanctions.