RUSSIA — On Wednesday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree declaring a “partial mobilization” of Russia’s armed forces, stopping short of a full-scale conscription. This will send Russians who have completed military training to join the conflict in Ukraine.
In a televised speech to the country, Putin stated that only individuals who are presently serving in the reserve, who have served in the army in the first place, who have certain occupations, and who have the appropriate experience, would be called up for military service.
The declaration was made barely one day after plans for referendums on joining Russia were made public in several Ukrainian regions under Russian authority. The planned sequence of events was reminiscent to the Russian president’s vow in February to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Putin’s declaration on Wednesday also came at a time when his nation has struggled to restock its combat force in Ukraine and has seen defeats on the battlefield in the face of a raging Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Russia will instantly call up 300,000 reservists to “hold the line at the front,” according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in a separate televised interview.
President Biden claimed that by invading Ukraine, “Russia has blatantly violated the key tenets of the United Nations charter” in his speech to global leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday morning.
The president stated, “Putin claims he felt compelled to intervene because Russia was in danger. “Russia wasn’t in danger. And nobody—aside from Russia—sought confrontation.”
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, said U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink in a tweet. Russia is escalating the war with Ukraine by displaying “signs of weakness” and “failure,” she added.
In his speech, Putin said that the increased force was required because Ukraine was still receiving powerful weapons from a “collective West” that wanted to “weaken, marginalize, and destroy Russia.”
The Russian leader also claimed that Russia had a moral duty to defend residents in the parts of Ukraine that were partially under its control when they staged a series of “referendums” later this week with an eye toward joining the Russian Federation.
Putin once more accused Ukraine and its supporters of endangering Russia with nuclear threats and charged that Western nations had given Ukraine long-range weaponry capable of striking deep within Russian territory. Putin emphasized that Russia has its own competent nuclear weapons and said Russia and its people would use “all possible means” to defend themselves. Putin declared, “This is not a bluff.”
The rose breezes can shift and blow in their direction, so those who are using nuclear weapons to blackmail us should be aware of this.
New data on Russian losses was also released by the military minister, who said that 5,937 Russian servicemen had lost their lives in the conflict in Ukraine. Western estimations are somewhat higher.