Putin calls up reservists in war escalation
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial military mobilization and vowed on Wednesday to use “all available means” to protect his country’s territory after Moscow-held regions of Ukraine suddenly announced annexation referendums.
The votes, already denounced by Kyiv and the West as a “sham,” will dramatically up the stakes in the seven-month old war in Ukraine by giving Moscow the ability to accuse Ukrainian forces of attacking its own territory. Four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south — said on Tuesday they would hold the votes over five days beginning Friday.
In a prerecorded address to the nation on Wednesday morning, Putin accused the West of trying to “destroy” his country through its backing of Kyiv, and said Russia needed to support those in
Ukraine who wanted to “determine their own future.”
The Russian leader announced a partial military mobilization, with Defense Minister Sergei
Shoigu telling state television that some 300,000 reservists would be called up.
“When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff,” Putin said. “Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind can also turn in their direction,” he added. Putin said that, through its support for Ukraine, the West was trying to “weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country,” while Shoigu said Moscow was “fighting not so much Ukraine as the collective West” in its smaller neighbor. The sudden flurry of moves by Moscow this week came with Russian forces in Ukraine facing their biggest challenge since the start of the conflict.
‘Military intervention’
In a rare admission of military losses from Moscow, Shoigu said on Wednesday that 5,937 Russian soldiers had died in Ukraine since the launch of the “military intervention” — the Kremlin’s preferred term for the invasion — in February.
A sweeping Ukrainian counteroffensive in recent weeks has seen Kyiv’s forces retake hundreds of towns and villages that had been controlled by Russia for months.
The referendums follow a pattern first established in 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine after a similar vote.
Like in 2014, Washington, Berlin and Paris denounced the latest referendums and said the international community would never recognize the results.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said they were a “sham,” French President Emmanuel Macron called them a “travesty” and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said they were “an affront to the principles of sovereignty and
territorial integrity.”
“Sham referenda and mobilization are signs of weakness, of Russian failure,” United States Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink said on Twitter.
“I thank all the friends and partners of Ukraine for their massive and firm condemnation of Russia’s intentions to organize yet more pseudo-referendums,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response.
Strike at nuclear plant
Kyiv said the referendums were meaningless and vowed to “eliminate” threats posed by Russia, saying its forces would keep retaking territory regardless of what Moscow or its proxies announced.
Political analyst Tatiana Stanovaya said the vote announcements were a direct result of the success of Ukraine’s eastern counteroffensive.
“Putin does not want to win this war on the battlefield. Putin wants to force Kyiv to surrender without a fight,” she said.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom on Wednesday accused Russia of again striking the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine.
The strike damaged a power line, causing the stoppage of several transformers of the No. 6 reactor of the plant and forcing a brief start of emergency generators, Energoatom said.
“Even the presence of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency does not stop” the Russians, it said, calling on the United Nations nuclear agency to “more resolute actions” against Moscow.
Europe’s largest nuclear facility, located in Russian-held territory, has become a hot spot for concerns after tit-for-tat claims of attacks there.