Russia’s President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization in Ukraine on Wednesday in an effort to redress the setbacks his army has suffered during the last month.
In a national address, Putin said that the army was facing the military operations of the collective west on a front line of over one thousand kilometers in Ukraine.
He said the mobilization concerns “only citizens in the military reserve, those who’ve served in the army.”
"This is not a bluff."
Vladimir Putin orders Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War Two and says Russia, which is one of the largest nuclear powers, would use "all the means at [its] disposal" if its territory were threatened. pic.twitter.com/iwZuPh5Ptp
— Channel 4 News (@Channel4News) September 21, 2022
He accused the West of starting a war against Russia in Ukraine in 2014.
“In its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed all lines,” the Russian President said. He accused the West of planning to destroy Russia and using nuclear blackmail.
Putin: “I am not bluffing” on Ukraine
Putin said he would use “all means available to us” and that those who are trying to use nuclear blackmail against Russia will find the tables can be turned against them.”
“I am not bluffing,” he warned.
“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to defend Russia and our people, we will use all means we have,” he said. “This is not a bluff.”
“The territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence and freedom will be secured,” and “I repeat with all the means we have,” said Putin.
“Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction,” he cautioned.
Speaking immediately after Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the partial mobilization will deploy three hundred thousand additional soldiers, who have military experience and specialized training. It will not affect students and currently conscripted soldiers.
He added that Russia had twenty-five million men with military experience and the current partial mobilization only covers about one percent of that number.
“We are not just fighting with Ukraine, but with the collective West,” Shoigu said.
World leaders condemn Putin
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order to partially mobilize three hundred thousand reservists in order to support Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters at the UN General Assembly in New York, Scholz said the latest decision is “an act of desperation.”
On Tuesday, Moscow confirmed that the “Parliaments” of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions in Ukraine, will hold a vote on joining Russia on September 23rd to September 27th.
Western nations have condemned Moscow’s plans to hold urgent so-called referendums in parts of Ukraine that are currently under Russian control.
The US, Germany, and France have said they would never recognize the results of such “sham” ballots. NATO said the plans spelled an escalation in the war.
Sham referendums have no legitimacy & do not change the nature of #Russia’s war of aggression against #Ukraine. This is a further escalation in Putin’s war. The international community must condemn this blatant violation of international law & step up support for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/NdcN3tO6Sy
— Jens Stoltenberg (@jensstoltenberg) September 20, 2022
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