Russia announces partial mobilisation of citizens in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens, a move that threatens to intensify his faltering invasion of Ukraine after a series of defeats that led to recrimination in Moscow.
Putin said in a speech that he would use “all means at our disposal” and would even raise the specter of nuclear weapons if he believed that Russia’s “territorial integrity” would be compromised.
The mobilization means that civilians from the reserve can be recalled and those with military experience are enlisted, Putin said, adding that the necessary decree had already been signed and went into effect on Wednesday.
Russia announces partial mobilisation of citizens in Ukraine
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Russian television Wednesday morning that the country will call 300,000 reservists. “These are not people who have never heard of the military,” Shoigu said. “These are the ones who have served, have a military registration specialty, have had military experience.”
It comes after a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive through most of occupied Kharkiv, which saw the momentum of the conflict return to Kiev this month. The counterattacks have excited Ukraine’s Western supporters and provoked anger in Russia, which was thwarted over and over again in its large-scale attack on its neighboring state launched seven months ago.
“Our country also has various means of destruction and is in some parts more modern than those of NATO countries, and if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all means at our disposal to destroy Russia and ours. people .protect. Putin said in his speech on Wednesday, pointing to a possible new chapter in the months-long conflict.
Regarding the potential for escalation and the use of nuclear weapons, Putin said: “Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that prevailing winds can turn in their direction.”
The announcement comes when Russia is believed to be facing a labor shortage and follows changes made to Russian military service law on Tuesday, which will increase sanctions for resistance related to military service or coercion against an official soldier. violating an order during a period of mobilization or martial law. .
Putin understood the ongoing fighting as part of a broader struggle for Russia’s survival against a West whose goal is “to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country”.
Several Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine have announced that this week they will hold referendums on formal membership of Russia, votes that have been widely dismissed as deceptions designed to bolster Putin’s justification for further attacks on Ukrainian soil. “They are already saying bluntly that they succeeded in dividing the Soviet Union in 1991, and now is the time for Russia to move towards a multitude of regions and territories that are deadly hostile to each other,” Putin said.
But NATO leaders dismissed the announcement as a sign of panic in the Kremlin and reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine’s military.
