A picture released by the Kremlin shows Vladimir Putin speaking during a televised address to the nation in Moscow when he announced a partial mobilisation for the country's military campaign in Ukraine. Photo: AFP / Kremlin.Ru
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial military mobilisation, as Russian forces battle a Ukrainian counter-offensive that has regained some occupied territory.
In a televised address, Putin said the partial mobilisation of its 2 million-strong military reserves was to defend Russia and its territories, claiming the West wants to destroy Russia and did not want peace in Ukraine.
"To protect homeland, its sovereignty, ... I consider it necessary to support the decision of the General Staff on partial mobilisation," he said.
Putin restated his aim was to "liberate" east Ukraine's Donbas industrial heartland region and that most people in the region did not want to return to what he called the "yoke" of Ukraine.
Putin said the West had engaged in nuclear blackmail, but Russia had "lots of weapons to reply" and that he was not bluffing.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Putin's decree on partial mobilisation would see 300,000 additional personnel called up to serve in Russia's military campaign in Ukraine.
In Moscow's first update on casualty numbers in almost six months, Shoigu said 5397 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of the conflict.
Shoigu dismissed assertions by Kyiv and the West that Russia has suffered heavy losses in its seven-month campaign, and said 90 percent of wounded Russian soldiers had returned to the frontline.
It was the first time Russia had given an official death toll since 25 March, when it said 1351 servicemen had died.
The US Pentagon said in August that it believed between 70,000 and 80,000 Russian personnel had been killed or wounded, and in July estimated Russia's death toll at around 15,000.
Shoigu said Russia had 25 million potential fighters at its disposal.
The decree published on the Kremlin's website said the call-up would apply only to reservists with previous military experience.
Shoigu said this meant around 300,000 men. He said they would be given additional training before being deployed to Ukraine, and that they would not include students or those who had only served as conscripts.
Shoigu said the mobilisation would help Russia "consolidate" territories it holds behind a 1000km frontline in Ukraine.
Russia already considers Luhansk and Donetsk, which together make up the Donbas region Moscow partially occupied in 2014, to be independent states. Ukraine and the West consider all parts of Ukraine held by Russian forces to be illegally occupied.
Russia now holds about 60 percent of Donetsk and had captured nearly all of Luhansk by July after slow advances during months of intense fighting.
Those gains are now under threat after Russian forces were driven from neighbouring Kharkiv province this month, losing control of their main supply lines for much of the Donetsk and Luhansk front lines.
In an apparently coordinated move, pro-Russian figures on Tuesday announced referendums for 23-27 September in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15 percent of Ukrainian territory, or an area about the size of Hungary.
European leaders condemn move
European leaders have reacted to Putin's announcement. Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the partial mobilisation "is an attempt to further escalate the war Russia launched against Ukraine" and "further proof that Russia is the sole aggressor".
Fiala said it was essential to continue providing aid to Ukraine and was in Czech interests to carry on doing so.
The Czech Republic has supplied the Ukrainian armed forces with heavy weapons including armoured vehicles, helicopters and artillery systems. It was the first country to send tanks to Ukraine.
The Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck described mobilisation as "another bad and wrong step from Russia".
Ben Wallace Photo: AFP
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the mobilisation and referenda plans "a sign of panic".
UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said Putin's decision showed that his invasion was failing.
"He and his Defence Minister have sent tens of thousands of their own citizens to their deaths, ill equipped and badly led," he wrote on Twitter.
"No amount of threats and propaganda can hide the fact that Ukraine is winning this war, the international community are united and Russia is becoming a global pariah."
Meanwhile, the US ambassador in Ukraine said the announcement was a sign of weakness.
"Sham referenda and mobilisation are signs of weakness, of Russian failure," Bridget Brink wrote on Twitter.
"The United States will never recognise Russia's claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," she added.
- Reuters / BBC