Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said 82,000 conscripts had already been sent to Ukraine. Speaking during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, Shoigu added that Russia was no longer recruiting people for its armed forces, saying that ‘citizen notification has been discontinued’. Putin thanked his defence minister, acknowledging that there at been some problems at the start of the recruitment drive. ‘This was probably inevitable,’ he said, ‘bearing in mind that such events have not been held in our country for a long time’