The partial mobilization will begin on Wednesday. “The West wants to destroy our country. The West didn’t want peace between Ukraine and Russia,” Putin said.
According to Putin, the partial mobilization means that reservists will be drafted. They would get the same status and the same pay as the current contract soldiers and would receive military training again before going to the front, he assured. Partial mobilization is primarily intended to solve the personnel problems at the front.
Russia will use all means to protect its territorial integrity, Putin said. He also mentioned nuclear weapons. Putin has already put the strategic nuclear arsenal on increased readiness to deter NATO from interfering in Ukraine. He says “to the West: We have many weapons to answer. This is not a bluff,” said Putin. “We will use all resources to defend our people.”
The President also announced the possible annexation of Ukrainian territories through referendums in the occupied territories. “We support the decision made by the majority of citizens in the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporizhia Oblasts,” Putin said.
In addition to the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, the Russian-occupied areas of Cherson and Zaporizhia in the south also want a vote on joining Russia. The mock referendums are to be held from September 23-27. They are seen as a reaction to the current Ukrainian counter-offensive in the east of the country.
Similarly, in 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea. The vote was not recognized internationally. This time, too, recognition is not in sight.
Source: Nachrichten
