Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday (21) a “partial mobilization” of Russians of fighting age in Ukraine and warned the West that the country is willing to use “all means” in its defense.
“This is not a bluff,” declared Putin, who accused Western countries of wanting to “destroy” Russia and for “nuclear blackmail” against his country, implying that his forces would be willing to use nuclear weapons.
Faced with lightning counter-offensives by Ukrainian forces, which caused the Russian army to retreat, Putin opted for an escalation in the conflict, with a measure that paves the way for the deployment of more Russian troops to Ukraine.
After the announcement on Tuesday about the organization of “referendums” for the annexation of four regions of eastern and southern Ukraine starting on Friday (23), the Russian president’s statements mark a change in the conflict, which began on February 24th.
“I consider it necessary to support the proposal (of the Ministry of Defense) of partial mobilization of citizens in the reserve, those who have already served (…) and who have relevant experience”, declared Putin in a speech recorded and shown on Wednesday on television.
“We are only talking about a partial mobilization”, insisted the Russian president. In recent days, rumors of a general mobilization have provoked concern among many Russians.
The country’s Defense Minister Serguei Shoigu explained that the order involves 300,000 reservists, which, in his words, represents only “1.1% of the resources that can be mobilized.”
The order is effective from this Wednesday, according to the Russian president. The decree was published shortly after the speech was aired on the Kremlin portal.
Mikhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, mocked the move.
“All of this continues to go according to plan, right? Life has a great sense of humor,” he wrote on Twitter.
“210th day of the ‘three-day war’. The Russians who called for the destruction of Ukraine ended up with: 1. Mobilization. 2. Closed borders, blocking of bank accounts. 3. Prison for desertion,” added Podolyak.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said the move was a “sign of weakness” for Moscow, which has to deal with a shortage of troops in its offensive in Ukraine, which this week turns seven months.
The UK followed suit. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin’s decision showed that his offensive “is failing” and highlighted that “the international community is united, while Russia is becoming a global pariah”.
– “It’s not a bluff” –
Putin once again attacked the Western countries, which he said had “overcome all limits in their aggressive policy” and wanted to “weaken, divide and ultimately destroy” Russia.
“They also did nuclear blackmail […] I would like to remind those who make this type of declaration that our country also has several means of destruction, some of them more modern than those of the NATO countries”, declared the Russian president.
“We will use all available means to protect Russia and our people,” he said. “And I’m saying ‘all means’ […] This is not a bluff,” he insisted.
The defense minister said that Russia “does not fight Ukraine as much as it does the West”.
Russian forces suffered several setbacks in Ukrainian counteroffensives in the Kherson (southern Ukraine) and Kharkiv (northeast) regions, where the Russians were forced to cede much territory.
Shoigu announced that the Russian army had recorded the deaths of 5,937 soldiers since the beginning of the offensive, an official toll much higher than the previous one, but which remains far below Ukrainian and Western estimates, which cite tens of thousands of casualties.
– “Pseudoreferendums” of annexation –
Fighting and bombing continued on Wednesday and Ukrainian authorities accused Russia of re-attacking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant complex in the south of the country, the largest in Europe.
On Tuesday, authorities in separatist or occupied regions in Ukraine announced “referendums” on annexation to Russia from September 23 to 27.
The votes, similar to the one that formalized the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014, will take place in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, which form the Donbass basin (east), and in the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, in the south.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played down the announcements and called the votes “pseudoreferendums”.
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