Allies and opponents demand from Putin a general mobilization of the population for the war in Ukraine

different russian leadersso much allies of President Vladimir Putin as opponents to the leader of the Russian Government, have demanded in the last hours a mobilization general or partial population to carry out a much more aggressive military campaign in Ukraine, after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the east of the country. Thus, the “special military operation” in Ukraine has turned into a war, a communist leader has said, while a Crimean deputy from the United Russia party has assured that without general mobilization, which the Kremlin rules out for the moment, the Russian troops will not achieve their goals: “At the moment, we are not talking about this,” said Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, during his daily telephone press conference.

The Russian withdrawal from the Ukrainian region of Kharkov has once again put on the table the pressing lack of men in the ranks of the Russian Army fighting in Ukraine. In this context, the Crimean deputy of United Russia Mikhail Sheremet has stated that, unless this general mobilization of the population is carried out, the Russian troops will not be able to achieve the objectives that were set when the “special military operation “, last February. It is an opinion shared by many Russian military experts and bloggers.

Chechnya’s leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has criticized the mistakes made by the generals on the battlefield, and has been willing to send 10,000 men to the front. The pro-Russians point out that the Ukrainian forces in Kharkov were eight times larger than the Russians, who chose to withdraw, leaving behind fuel and military equipment in the hands of the enemy.

“The special military operation has turned into a war”

For his part, the Russian communist leader Gennadi Zyuganov has admitted that the “special military operation” in Ukraine has turned into a war, for which it is necessary to mobilize all the country’s resources: “The political-military operation against the Nazis, ultra-nationalists and fascists in Ukraine has been transformed into a war with all the letters that the Americans, the NATO countries and the united Europe have declared on us“, Zyuganov said during his speech before the Duma or Congress of Deputies.

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Zyuganov has specified that “a war and a special operation differ radically, since you declare the operation and you can interrupt it, but the war cannot be interrupted, even if you want to. You have to go to the end. It has two outcomes: victory, or defeat”, he stressed, before pointing out that a war demands a response and “requires the maximum mobilization of forces and resources”, in addition to “the consolidation of society” and the adoption of new laws.

Precisely, using the word “war” to describe the Russian military campaign in Ukraine is punishable by the law approved by the Duma last March, as is the case with the word “invasion”, which has led to the opening of numerous criminal cases .

However, according to the press, Putin considers that the majority of Russian citizens are not willing to send their sons to fight in Ukraine. 70% of the population supports the military campaign to a greater or lesser degree, to which 18% opposes, according to the latest official poll.

Ukraine interprets the Russian withdrawal from Kharkov as a great victory, which has allowed it to recover thousands of square kilometers of territory; the Russian Defense Ministry, on the other hand, argues that its decision seeks to strengthen its positions in Donbass.