‘We will use all the resources we have to protect our people’: Putin announces Russian ‘partial mobilization’ in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced this Wednesday a “partial mobilization” of the country’s citizens as the war in Ukraine approaches its seventh month of conflict, in a message to the nation.

The measure, which has already entered into force, meets the need to protect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, the head of the Russian state emphasized in a televised address.

Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, is prepared to use “every means at its disposal” to “defend itself,” Putin said, accusing the West of seeking to destroy the country.

The announcement of “partial mobilization” of Russians of military age opens the way to an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine.

“I consider it necessary to support the proposal [do Ministério da Defesa] on the partial mobilization of citizens to the reserve, who have already served (…) and have relevant experience,” he said.

“The decree on partial mobilization has been signed” and will come into effect this Wednesday, Putin added, stressing that “it is only about partial mobilization,” in response to rumors of a general mobilization that have surfaced in recent hours.

Faced with the “threat” posed to the Russian president by the “Nazi regime in Kyiv,” backed financially and militarily by the West, Moscow will use “every means at its disposal to defend Russia” and its people, Putin warned. to nuclear weapons.

“This is not a bluff,” he warned.

“The goal of the West is to weaken, divide and destroy Russia,” he assured, by suppressing “sovereign and independent centers of development” in the world.

“They are [os ocidentais] They openly say that in 1991 they managed to dismember the Soviet Union and that now it’s Russia’s turn,” he accused.