Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization of troops to liberate Donbass in an expected televised address. “The goal of the West is to weaken Russia. We will use every means at our disposal to protect our country and our people.” Thus, he indirectly alludes to the use of nuclear weapons and notes that he is “not bluffing.”

He accused the West of pushing Ukraine into a war against Russia, and assured that his goal is to liberate the Donbass, and they will not stop until they achieve this. “The West has crossed all red lines. He wants to destroy us. He does not want peace between Ukraine and Russia,” he said.

In this context, he blessed the referendums announced on the eve in the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporiye regions, which will become Russian as soon as the results of the fictitious vote are announced. “Most don’t want to be under the yoke of neo-Nazis,” he said, in line with his first speech about Operation Denazification in Ukraine.

This is his first public intervention since he announced a “special operation” in Ukraine on February 24 that led to an invasion of a neighboring country. He did not declare war, so as not to be forced to mobilize, but the course of the war leads him to correct it in stages.

Partial mobilization begins on September 21 this year. This applies to all reserve servicemen and those who served in the army, Putin said. They will undergo preliminary military training. The contracts of those already mobilized before the end of the “operation” are also being extended. According to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, they will add about 300,000 troops. Those who fail to appear face jail time, which has just been tightened as part of the Penal Code reform approved the day before. Many suspect that it actually affects many more people and is less of a partial mobilization than Putin announced.

There are already protests against this partial mobilization. Many Russians are beginning to realize that they are indeed at war. Tickets to leave the country are quoted at astronomical prices. It seems that soon they will not be able to leave Russia and many will not be freed from the campaign to fight against their will.

He emphasized that this is a “partial mobilization” and not total, but that they are fighting Ukraine and its Western allies on a 1,000-kilometer front, which requires more troops. Until now, he has resorted to the help of volunteers, mercenaries and even criminals who received benefits for joining. During those nearly seven months of war, at least 50,000 Russian soldiers died in Ukraine.

The Kremlin has reservations about total mobilization because the Russian population, which mostly lives outside the conflict, would radically change their attitude towards it if they saw their sons, fathers and husbands having to go to fight in Ukraine. At the same time, he has problems with the equipment, so Putin demanded that the military industry maximize production and reduce the time. However, this is difficult due to the Western embargo, which affects the technology needed to produce many weapons.

The Russian Armed Forces are facing serious equipment and supply problems in Ukraine. Ukrainians resorted to total mobilization of men aged 18 to 65 from the moment of the invasion, which gave them a certain advantage. In addition, Ukrainian soldiers clearly know what they are fighting for, for the freedom of their people, and many Russians sent to Ukraine did not know about the mission entrusted to them. This lack of motivation, coupled with logistical errors, left Russia mired in a war it didn’t even want to name.

Opposition leader Alexei Navalny recorded a video message from prison, which was published by his lawyers. “This will lead to mass tragedy, to a large number of deaths … To maintain his personal power, Putin invaded a neighboring country, kills people, and now sends a large number of Russian citizens to this war. … Putin wants to stain hundreds of thousands of people with blood.

Zelensky: “They won’t stop us”

Hours earlier, the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics, as well as the Kherson and Zaporiye republics, announced that they would hold referendums from 23 to 27 September to decide whether to join Russia. The international community considers them illegal and a provocation. But Russia will have the right to declare war and use all the means at its disposal if they are attacked. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Kremlin’s move “won’t stop its troops” who are conducting a highly successful counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region in September.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday blamed “fake” referendums announced by pro-Russian authorities in Ukraine’s occupied territories to join Russia, saying it was “an escalation of Vladimir Putin’s war.”

Fake referendums have no legitimacy and lead to a further escalation of Putin’s war.”

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General

“Fake referendums have no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said in a social media post, criticizing that it was a “further escalation” of Putin’s “war” against Ukraine. neighboring country. In his rejection message, NATO’s political leader urged the international community to condemn what he considers to be a “blatant violation” of international law and urged greater support for Kyiv at this juncture. In the same vein, from New York, where the UN General Assembly is being held, the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke out. This Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky intervenes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will speak on behalf of Russia.

The head of Russian diplomacy assessed these initiatives as a sign of the desire of the population of these territories to decide whether they want to be part of Russia. “From the beginning of the special operation and in general in the previous period, we said that the population of the respective territories should decide their future,” he stressed.

The truth is that Russia does not fully control the territories where the referenda will take place: about 60% of Donetsk is under the control of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. In Lugansk, it has completely dominated so far, but Ukrainian forces are advancing towards it from the Kharkov region. In the south, Russians are also not fully settled in the Kherson and Zaporiye regions.

In fact, this measure means placing these territories, which Russia has invaded Ukraine or which it intends to control, under its jurisdiction and, therefore, under the nuclear umbrella. This is a move designed to sow fear and discord among Ukraine’s Western allies. Russia’s move confirms that they are losing on the battlefield, although the war has not yet been lost. In the event of an attack on Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporia or Kherson, Russia could resort to nuclear weapons. This is a resource that points to his desperation, but a cornered Putin seems capable of anything. It is a rise that no one dares to predict where it will lead.