Ukraine War: Vladimir Putin orders partial mobilisation of 3L reservists

New Delhi, September 21

In one of the biggest security crises facing Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a partial mobilisation of about three lakh reservists with immediate effect.

Will use all weapons

In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff. Vladimir Putin, Russian President

At the same time, Putin suggested it was now a de facto war with NATO. “Today our armed forces are fighting on the line of contact that is over 1,000 kms long… fighting not only against neo-Nazi units but actually the entire military machine of the collective West,” he said. Ukraine, in contrast, has had full mobilisation for the last six months.

The stretched-out frontline, the constant shelling of Russian borderline areas and attacks on liberated regions required the call-up of servicemen from the reserve, said Putin. Accusing the US-led West of resorting to nuclear blackmail, Putin said Russia had different types of weapons as well, and some of them were more modern than the weapons NATO countries had.

The Russian opposition has called for street protests against Putin’s mobilisation order with jailed dissident Alexei Navalny stating that Putin was sending more Russians to their deaths.

Putin made the announcement in a televised address to the nation in which he said Russia would use all means at its disposal to protect its territory, warning the West that “this is not a bluff”.

The address came as Russian forces wrested back some slivers in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and Kyiv was preparing for a further wave of attacks in the region to press on with its recent battlefield successes.

Indicating that Moscow had no plans to give up captured territory, Russian-occupied Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions on Tuesday announced that they would begin a referendum on whether to join Russia from this Friday. Both announcements were expectedly decried by the US and the UK. “The US will never recognise Russia’s claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said US envoy to Ukraine Bridget Brink. British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin’s decision to mobilise military reservists shows that his invasion was failing.