On Wednesday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of Russia’s armed forces, signing a decree that will send Russians who have completed military training to Ukraine, stopping short of a full-scale draft.
“Only those citizens will be drafted to military service who are currently in the reserve and first of all those who have served in the army, who have certain professions and have necessary experience,” will be recruited for the campaign, said Putin in a televised address to the nation.
The announcement came the day after some regions of Ukraine under Russian control revealed plans for referendums on joining Russia. The planned sequence of events brought to mind Vladimir Putin’s announcement in February that tens of thousands of troops would be sent into Ukraine.
Putin’s announcement on Wednesday also came at a time when his nation was having trouble restocking its fighting force in Ukraine and was experiencing setbacks on the battlefield as the Ukrainian counteroffensive was gaining momentum.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, stated in a separate television interview that Russia would immediately call up 300,000 reservists to “hold the line at the front” in Ukraine.
President Biden said that by invading Ukraine, “Russia has shamelessly violated core tenets of the United Nations charter” in his speech to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday morning.
“Putin claims he had to act because Russia was threatened,” the president said. “No one threatened Russia. And no one other than Russia sought conflict.”
The United States will never recognize Russia’s claim to allegedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, declared U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink in a tweet criticizing Russia for escalating the conflict with Ukraine.
Putin claimed in his speech that the bigger force was required because Ukraine continued to receive powerful weapons from a “collective West” whose goal it was to “weaken, isolating, and destroy Russia.”
In addition, the Russian leader insisted that Russia had a moral duty to defend civilians in parts of Ukraine that were partially under its control as this week’s “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation were being held.
Putin once more accused Ukraine and its allies of posing a nuclear threat to Russia by supplying Ukraine with long-range weaponry capable of striking deep inside Russian territory. Putin emphasized that Russia had a capable nuclear arsenal and that it would use “all available means” to defend itself and its citizens. This is not a bluff, said Putin.
“Those who are blackmailing us with nuclear weapons should know – the rose winds can change and blow in their direction.”
The defense minister also released updated data on Russian casualties, noting that 5,937 Russian soldiers had lost their lives in the conflict in Ukraine. Estimates from the West are much higher.
