KYIV, May 13 — New Russian government appointments show that Moscow will try to scale up its war effort and is seeking to reconfigure its economy for its defence needs, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said today.

More than two years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped civilian economist Adrei Belousov as his surprise new defence minister yesterday.

"Russia is finally isolating itself and will try to scale up the war, expand its formats while reconfiguring the economy...” Podolyak said on the Telegram messaging app. — Reuters