President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine encouraged Russians to resist the country's conscription drive on Saturday, his latest attempt to blunt President Vladimir V. Putin's attempts to broaden the war.
"It is better to surrender to Ukrainian captivity than to be killed by the strikes of our weapons, absolutely fair strikes, as Ukraine defends itself in this war," he said in Russian-language comments on his Telegram account. We defend our lives, our children, our freedom. President Putin ordered the call-up of 300,000 civilians on Wednesday to strengthen Russia's forces in Ukraine, where they have faced a number of challenges in recent weeks, losing large areas they had captured over the summer as a Ukrainian counterattack in the northeast set off a rapid retreat. Some Russian news outlets reported that the mobilization could be larger than originally reported by officials.