- Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization for his country’s reservists.
- Russian officials say that 300,000. reservists are being drafted right away.
- Putin claimed that the move was intended to “defend Russia” and preserve Russia’s sovereignty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the “partial mobilisation” of the country’s military reservists in order to “defend [the motherland], its sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as the securitization.”Ty of our people.“
Putin spoke on Wednesday morning via televised address that the mobilization would start immediately and that those called up will be given the same status in the armed force as regulars. According to the BBCPutin also accused Russia of blackmailing the West and promised to use all resources to protect his people.
Putin stated, via the BBC: “The territorial integrity and independence of our motherland, as well as our independence and freedom, will be protected. I repeat this with all the means available.”
Putin said that those who seek to blackmail us using nuclear weapons should be aware of the fact that the wind can blow in their favor.”
300,000. Reservists will be drafted for the mobilization. The Washington PostOfficials reported the news. Sergei Shoigu, Russian Defense Minister said that only combat-experienced students and conscripts will be called up.
Officials of the pro-Russian separatist movement in four regions in eastern and south Ukraine were notified Tuesday by their government that they would be holding referendumsWithin the next few days, Russia will be joining Ukraine. Response from Ukrainian officials SlammedThe referendum was branded a “sham”, and it will not change anything.
“Russia has been and continues to be an aggressor illegally taking over parts of Ukrainian land. Ukraine has every right and will continue to liberate its territories regardless of what Russia may say,” Dmytro Kunleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister As a response.
Ukraine’s defense ministry : “Ruscist reconstructionists living in the occupied territories don’t stop repeating the Nazi referendum regarding the Anschluss to Austria. They expect 1938 results. They will instead get Hitler’s 1945 result.”
Officials from the West shared similar sentiments Tuesday. Jens Stoltenberg is NATO Secretary General The referendums were described as a “further escalated in Putin’s war,” and they are not legal. Brig. Brig. Pat Ryder, Pentagon Press Secretary, stated to reporters that the votes were “meant distract from the difficult situation that the Russian military is currently in right now,” and that the US would not recognize any vote.
The referendums come after several weeks of Ukrainian advances along the war’s eastern and southern fronts — including a Counteroffensives are punishedIn Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv, there has been the liberation and retaking of thousands of miles of territory that was previously under the control of Russian troops.
Putin’s army continues to struggle with a huge personnel shortage in the face of major battlefield losses. On Monday, a senior US defense official stated that Russia is in “extremely serious” personnel shortage. Find volunteers difficultBecause of the high number of casualties and poor performance on the battlefield, it is difficult to fight in Ukraine.
Even the notorious Wagner Group — private mercenaries with close Kremlin ties who have been fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine for months — is experiencing its own staffing problems. According to the official, Wagner tried. Recruitment of prisonersHowever, many refuse to surrender their rights in Ukraine and take up arms.
These were the shortcomings highlighted by Britain’s Defense Ministry in a recent intelligence assessmentIt was noted that Wagner’s issues, as well as the shorter training courses at Russian military schools, indicate that Russia’s “manpower challenge has become increasingly serious.”
Russia watchers expressed concern that Moscow’s annexation by Moscow of the Ukrainian territories would be used by the Kremlin to gain control. Escalating warIdentifying and solving the manpower problems of the Russian military.
Retired US Army Army Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan, a former defense attaché to Russia and senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, recently told Insider that if the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk asked for accession into Russia and were accepted, then it would mean — in the eyes of the Kremlin — that “the fighting that is currently going on in Ukraine will suddenly be ‘in Russia.'”
Ryan warned of the potential immediate implications.
“For one, Putin could solve his military-manpower problem because now all the conscripts (35+% of the force) can be used — since it’s no longer a war abroad,” Ryan said.
Ryan said, “A second development will see that the red line against fighting on Russian soil will be suddenly crossed.” “NATO weapons will fight and shoot inside Russia. The Russian state will be directly attacked, and that is the most important. This is, as we all know, a trigger to use nuclear weapons.
Western officials have warned repeatedly that Russia’s use of nuclear weapons cannot be dismissed, especially if Putin is feeling pushed into a corner. That said, some Russia experts are still skeptical that Moscow would use weapons of mass destruction given the potential consequences — including a possible direct confrontation with NATO. The military alliance is made up of 30 countries.
“I don’t think that Putin would use tactical nukes in this situation — even if he’s losing, even if he lost everything in Ukraine,” Robert Orttung, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told Insider last week.
Orttung stated that such a weapon would “take war to the next stage” and that the Russian president would not be too afraid of the reaction.
