"We will definitely use all our weapons to defend Russia and our people. We have weapons of mass destruction. I support the proposal to mobilize the soldiers given on behalf of the army.' These are the words of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
This is Russia's most significant military mobilization since World War II. Under this, Russia is gathering around 300000 soldiers. Russia aims to retaliate against the West by winning the war with Ukraine. In his message to the nation on September 21, Putin ordered the mobilization of 3,00,000 troops. Russia has about 2-2.5 million reserve troops. However, Russia claims it has a reserve force of 25 million citizens.
Putin called for gathering a large number of soldiers for a temporary mobilization. Putin said that only Russian citizens currently in Russia's reserve army or who have previously served in the army and have experience in military training would be accommodated.
Putin's order comes at a time when the Russian military has recently suffered heavy casualties from the war.
The main reasons behind this decision of Russia
Plan to merge 4 Ukrainian regions with Russia in the name of referendum.
Russia is holding referendums in four significant regions occupied by Ukraine so far. These regions are - Donbas and Luhansk, i.e., Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and Kherson and Zaporizhia in the south. Russia is holding referendums in four regions from September 23 to September 27.
Among them, Donetsk and parts of Luhansk have been held by Russian-backed separatists since 2014, and Russia has further extended that hold during this year's war. At the same time, Russian forces captured Kherson at the start of the war and the city of Zaporizhia last month.
According to the Institute of the Study of War, Russia occupies about 15% of the territory of Ukraine, that is, more than 90 thousand square kilometers. This area is equal to the area of Portugal (92 thousand square km). It is believed that Russia will annex these areas after the referendum.