Russia’s Putin calls for partial military mobilization for Ukraine war

In light of Moscow's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a partial military mobilization in Russia, putting its citizens and economy on a wartime footing. Putin reiterated prior assertions that Western countries were to blame for initiating a proxy war with Russia in a rare pre-recorded television address, saying the West "wants to destroy our country" and attempting to "convert Ukraine's people into military fodder." Aside from stating that he had ordered an increase in funding to boost Russia's weapons production in light of the country having committed (and lost) a significant amount of weaponry during the conflict, which started in late February, Putin stated that "mobilization events" would start on Wednesday without providing any additional information. A partial mobilization is a vague idea, but it would require larger wartime contributions from Russian companies and residents. Despite invading Ukraine in February, Russia has not officially declared war on it and refers to the invasion as a "special military operation." Putin confirmed that military reservists would be called-up into active service, but insisted a wider conscription of Russian men of fighting age was not taking place. “I reiterate, we are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience. Conscripts will obligatorily go through additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation before departing to the units,” he said according to an AP translation.