Ukraine is facing a massive Russian troop deployment in the east of the country.
"Now practically the entire combat-ready part of the Russian army is concentrated on the territory of our state and in the border areas of Russia," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video message published on Telegram on Wednesday night.
The Russian side rounded up "almost everyone and everything capable of fighting with us," said Zelenskyy.
He asked for weapons again.
According to the British Ministry of Defence, the Russian army is stepping up attacks along the demarcation line to the Donbass in eastern Ukraine.
However, Ukraine is fending off numerous advances by Russian troops, the British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday evening, citing intelligence information.
Russian advances would continue to be hampered by the terrain and logistical and technical difficulties.
Added to this is the resilience of the highly motivated Ukrainian army.
Russia's failure to crush resistance in the embattled southeastern Ukrainian port of Mariupol and indiscriminate Russian attacks hitting civilians are further indications that Moscow is not achieving its goals as quickly as hoped.
Moscow sets new deadline in Mariupol
Moscow announced on Tuesday evening a new deadline for the last defenders in Mariupol, who were holed up in a steel plant.
Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev announced a unilateral ceasefire including a "humanitarian corridor" from the steelworks for Wednesday afternoon.
During the ceasefire, Ukrainian fighters could surrender and civilians could be evacuated, the Russian colonel general said in a statement.
Russia wants to take complete control of the strategically important port city.
The defenders let previous ultimatums expire.
Criticism of Scholz for refusing arms deliveries
In Germany, the debate about a delivery of heavy weapons continues even after the recent statement by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
For the Greens politician Anton Hofreiter and the FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, Scholz's statements on Tuesday evening do not go far enough.
The Ukrainian Ambassador Andriy Melnyk was also dissatisfied.
Scholz has promised Ukraine to finance direct arms deliveries from German industry.
"We asked the German armaments industry to tell us what material they can deliver in the near future," he said on Tuesday.
"Ukraine has now adopted a selection from this list and we are providing it with the money necessary for the purchase." These include, as before, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft devices, ammunition "and also what can be used in an artillery battle “.
Melnyk criticized the Chancellor's announcement as insufficient.
They were noted in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv "with great disappointment and bitterness," Melnyk told the German Press Agency.
In the ZDF "heute journal" he also complained: "The weapons that we need are not on this list."