Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that he visited a military training camp in eastern Ukraine . Since the start of the war, several senior Russian officials have visited Ukraine.

"I visited the training camp near the front line in the Donetsk People's Republic on the orders of Vladimir Putin ," the former president said in a video on the Russian social networking site VKontakte. According to a satisfied Medvedev, the training went "adequately" and the troops showed 'willpower', 'fortitude' and 'a spirit of victory'.

Earlier, in March, President Putin made a surprise visit to the bombed-out city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine. He then also moved to Luhansk . Putin met Russian soldiers taking part in the invasion of Ukraine.

Medvedev, the number two on Russia's Security Council, also stated that the Russian army has recruited 325,000 people since the beginning of this year. Since the spring, the Russian army has been conducting a large-scale recruitment campaign, with extensive advertising on the street and online. They promise attractive salaries and other benefits to entice future soldiers.