Ukraine Update: Russia To Begin Partial Mobilization

putin

Russia is going to make a partial mobilization of its reservists. It is a mobilization of 300,000 reservists. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization during an address to the nation on Wednesday morning. He said the Defense Ministry had recommended drawing military reservists into active service as the country faces a protracted conflict in Ukraine and Donbass.

The measure is sensible and necessary under the circumstances, Putin said, considering that Russia is fighting “the entire Western military machine” in Ukraine. He has already signed an order for the call-up to start immediately.

The move will see the armed forces draw on military reservists only, and those who have completed national service, the president added. He promised that they would be provided with additional training, along with all the benefits due to people involved in active duty.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said the ministry wanted to call to arms some 300,000 reservists, or just over 1% of Russia’s full mobilization potential.

Putin has accused Kiev of backing away from peace talks with Moscow, which he said it had done on the instructions of its Western backers. Instead, the Ukrainian government has doubled down on military action, he said.

“After certain compromises were reached, Kiev received a de facto direct order to derail all agreements. More weapons were pumped into Ukraine. The Kiev regime deployed more gangs of international mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained to NATO standards and under de facto command of Western advisers,” Putin said.

Russian forces sent to Ukraine in February have secured a large portion of territory claimed by the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, as well as parts of Ukraine, he said. The resulting front line stretches over 1,000km, the president pointed out.

He warned the U.S. and its allies against ramping up pressure on Russia. Western nations are openly pursuing a military defeat of Russia, seeking to push the country into insignificance and to loot its natural wealth, he stated.

“Parts of Western elites use every effort to preserve their dominance. That is why they try to block and suppress any sovereign centers of development, so that they can continue to brutally force their will on other nations and peoples, to impose their pseudo-values. Their goal is to weaken, disunite and ultimately destroy our nation,” he explained.

Some senior officials in NATO states have even suggested that using tactical nuclear weapons against Russian troops would be justified, according to Putin. The Russian president stressed that Moscow would not hesitate to retaliate to such an attack with its own nuclear weapons. “If the territorial integrity of our nation is threatened, we will certainly use all the means that we have to defend Russia and our people.”

Putin also commented on the upcoming referendums in the two Donbass republics and two regions of Ukraine currently controlled to a large extent by Russian troops. The four entities are putting to a general vote a proposal to ask Moscow to accept them as new parts of the Russian Federation, with polling scheduled to start on Friday.

The Russian leader pledged to support the plebiscites in terms of security and said his government would respect whatever outcomes they produce. Russia’s goal is to protect civilians from the Ukrainian government, which had escalated the persecution of its opponents at home and had been using terrorist tactics against people living in Russia-controlled lands, Putin said.

U.S. And Allies React To Russia’s Partial Mobilization

The U.S. and its European allies have reiterated their commitment to supporting Ukraine, in response to the announcement in Russia of a partial mobilization.

“Sham referenda and mobilization are signs of weakness of Russian failure,” U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

She insisted that Washington “will never recognize Russia’s claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory,” referring to the planned votes on joining Russia to be held in Donbass, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions between September 23 and 27.

“We will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Brink promised.

British ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons came up with an almost identical tweet on the issue, claiming that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin “still refuses to understand Ukraine. Partial mobilization and sham referenda do not change that essential weakness.”

One of the key members of the German government Robert Habeck, who is both vice chancellor and economy minister, described Moscow’s partial mobilization as “another bad and misguided step” by Russia.

Habeck also vowed that Berlin will continue to support Kiev in its conflict with Moscow.

The U.S., EU, the UK and some other countries have been actively supporting Ukraine, providing Kiev with weapons, including multiple rocket launch systems, armored vehicles and drones, as well as sharing intelligence and sending billions of dollars in financial aid to the government of Vladimir Zelensky.

Several thousand foreign mercenaries have also been involved in the conflict on Kiev’s side. Russia’s Defense Minister Shoigu said on Wednesday that more that 2,000 of them have been killed, with another 1,000 soldiers of fortune remaining in the ranks of the Ukrainian military.

China Reacts To Mobilization In Russia

China has responded to the announcement of partial military mobilization in Russia by calling for a peaceful settlement of the armed conflict in Ukraine.

China’s position that the parties involved in the security crisis should exercise restraint and seek a mutually acceptable solution has been consistent and clear, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told journalists during a daily briefing on Wednesday, as quoted by news agencies.

China has condemned the Russian military operation, but acknowledged the merits of its justifications. The Chinese government believes the expansion of NATO towards Russian borders served as a major cause of the hostilities. China has refused to join the U.S. and its allies in imposing sanctions on Russia, calling the approach illegal and detrimental to peace.

Kiev Suggests How West Should Respond To Putin

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba called on the West “to double” its support for Ukraine. Such a move would be the best response to Vladimir Putin’s “belligerent threats,” Kuleba claimed, apparently referring to the recent statements of the Russian president.

“The only appropriate response to Putin’s belligerent threats is to double down on supporting Ukraine. More sanctions on Russia. More weapons to Ukraine. More solidarity with Ukrainians. More business pulling out of Russia. More determination to hold Russia accountable,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

His statement echoed the remarks of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who told Reuters on Wednesday that the best answer to Russia’s latest moves would be “to step up and further support Ukraine.”

Many other Western leaders including U.S. President Joe Biden, EU Council head Charles Michel, and UK Prime Minister Liz Truss condemned Putin’s remarks and reassured Kiev that their support would remain “firm” and “steadfast.”

On Tuesday, Truss announced that next year Britain would match or even exceed its record 2022 military support to Ukraine, which has already amounted to £2.3 billion.

Last week, Washington pledged to send an additional $600 million in military aid to Kiev. In total, under Biden’s administration, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with almost $16 billion of assistance.

Kiev’s Western partners also pledged to maintain both economic and military pressure on Russia. Putin, in turn, claimed on Wednesday that Russia would “not succumb to blackmail and intimidation” and would never betray or lose its sovereignty.

Russia To Increase Military Hardware Production

Rostech – the Russian state-owned defense industry giant – has vowed to enhance its production capabilities to keep up with the growing demand for military hardware amid the partial mobilization, the corporation announced on Wednesday. Certain management decisions have already been taken, it added.

“Today, many Rostech enterprises have already introduced special operating conditions: The employees are working overtime and often on weekends as well,” Rostech said in a statement, adding that it would “further increase its production capacities to meet the goals” set by Moscow. The corporation also expressed its hope that “its contribution to the common cause would help Russia prevail and come out as a victor.”

The statement came as Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded the defense industry speed up their work under the state defense procurement and acquisition program.

Rostech is responsible for 40% of all defense acquisition contracts, the corporation said. The defense industry giant produces warplanes, artillery systems, high-precision weapons, communication devices and radio electronic warfare systems among others.

U.S. ‘Teetering On Brink’ Of Being A Party To Ukraine Conflict, Says Lavrov

Washington is perilously close to being openly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with Newsweek published on Wednesday, answering a question about a possible confrontation between nuclear-armed world powers.

The U.S. and its allies are not seeking peace in Ukraine, but to use the country to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, said Lavrov, who was in New York for the 77th UN General Assembly session.

“Today, Western states funnel weapons and military hardware into the neo-Nazi regime in Kiev, and train Ukraine’s armed forces. NATO and U.S. weapons are used to fire at Russian territory bordering Ukraine, killing civilians there. The pentagon does not hide that it is providing Kiev with intelligence and target designations for strikes. We have recorded the presence of American mercenaries and advisers on the battlefield,” Lavrov told the U.S. magazine.

Lavrov said: “The United States, in fact, is teetering on the brink of turning into a party to the conflict. This is to your question about the risk of a direct collision between nuclear powers.

The U.S. and its allies are openly seeking to defeat Russia on the battlefield and are ready to sacrifice Ukraine to achieve their geopolitical goals, Lavrov told Newsweek.

When Moscow and Kiev almost reached an agreement in March, this turn of events “obviously frightened the Americans and the British, so they forbade Ukraine to conduct further dialogue with Russia,” the Russian top diplomat said. This was presumably a reference to revelations by pro-government media in Kiev that UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had brought such a message to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky.

“It is objectively not possible to maintain normal communication with Washington” after the US declared “the strategic defeat of Russia” as its policy goal, Lavrov told the outlet.

The West left Moscow no choice but to launch a special military operation, after it created and nurtured “a Russophobic neo-Nazi regime” in Kiev and sent weapons into Ukraine in order to turn it into a “springboard for containing Russia” the Russian foreign minister explained.

The goals of the operation are to protect the population of Donbass, eliminate threats to Russia’s security, and the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine,” Lavrov said. “All of them remain relevant and will be achieved, no matter how long it takes.”

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