William Molinié, edited by Gauthier Delomez
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” for the military operation in Ukraine, adding 300,000 reservists to the men already deployed there. This decision should allow the Russian army to make up for its losses before the next annexation referendums in the Donbass.
Vladimir Putin continues Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. On the 210th day of the conflict, the country’s president announced the partial mobilization of Russians of fighting age, ie 300,000 reservists who will be deployed. This announcement is actually a direct and operational response from the Kremlin to the defeat in Izium a few days ago, which allowed the Ukrainians to recover 10,000 square kilometers in the Kharkiv region.
One of the reasons for this Russian rout is the lack of soldiers, unable to hold the 2,500 kilometers of front line.
Anticipating the annexation referendums in the Donbass
This reinforcement of 300,000 additional men will allow the Russians to regenerate, to make up for the losses, even if the capacities of the Russian army are in fact much higher: 2.3 million professional soldiers and up to 25 million inhabitants. mobilized. It remains to be seen whether the intendant will follow: the soldiers sent to the front must be well armed, given equipment that works. On this point precisely, the Russians have been far from excelling.
This announced mobilization is also a way of anticipating the annexation referendums in the Donbass from Friday. The Russians will have to provide more protection to these territories since they will become Russian in the eyes of Vladimir Putin. The head of the Kremlin will now be able to argue that Russia is attacked in the event of a Ukrainian counter-offensive, and will continue to brandish the nuclear threat in the event of an obstacle to the offensive in eastern Ukraine.