Vladimir Putin has claimed that the mobilisation of army reservists to bolster his country’s troops in Ukraine will be completed in two weeks, a news report has claimed. Speaking in Kazakhstan, the Russian President told reporters that there would be no further call-up for the war in Ukraine, a claim which is likely to be met with scepticism.
He had previously said there would be no mobilisation at all before breaking his promise.
According to The Times, Putin said the reserves had bolstered Russia’s front line in Ukraine, with 222,000 men already called up, 33,000 of them assigned to units and 16,000 involved in combat missions.
He said: “The line of contact is 1,100 km (680 miles), so it is practically impossible to hold it with forces formed only of contract soldiers, especially since they take part in offensive activities.”
On September 21, the Russian President announced that 300,000 reservists with military experience or education would be called up, a move that followed significant counter-attacks by Kyiv’s forces in eastern and southern Ukraine.
The Russian leader initially described the mobilisation as “partial” and said only those with combat or service experience would be drafted. However, a decree he signed outlined almost no specific criteria.
Large numbers of young men rushed to book flights abroad or to cross land borders out of the country, forming long queues and abandoning vehicles in an attempt to reach safety.
It quickly became apparent that men who were not reservists or who had other exemptions were also being drafted, prompting more people to flee.
Putin said problems with the wrong people being mobilised were the result of outdated records, which were now being corrected.
READ MORE: ‘We’ll see!’ Putin leaves door open for ‘massive strike’ in address
He also claimed: “We haven’t set ourselves the objective of destroying Ukraine; of course we didn’t.”
Whole neighbourhoods of Ukrainian cities have been destroyed in artillery barrages and aerial bombing, and the United Nations has estimated this week that more than 6,000 civilians had been killed and more than 9,000 wounded.
Speaking after a week of sustained Russian attacks on dozens of towns and cities, Putin said there was “no need for massive strikes now”, adding: “There are different objectives now.”
Asked if he regretted the Russian incursion into Ukraine, Putin replied: “What is happening today is quite unpleasant, to put it mildly, but we would have found ourselves in the same situation but a bit later, under conditions that would have been worse for us. So, what we are doing is right and timely.”
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