Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia’s first deployment since World War II, warning the West that if what he called “nuclear blackmail” continued, Moscow would respond with all its vast arsenal.
“If our country’s territorial integrity is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people – this is no bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation.
Putin said he signed a decree on a partial mobilization, which significantly escalates the conflict.
The Russian president said his aim was to “liberate” the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and that most people in the region did not want to return to what he called the “yoke” of Ukraine. He also stated that he supported people who proposed referendums in areas under Russian control on the possibility of annexing the territories.
Putin also said Russia would use all the resources at its disposal to defend what he called “its people”. Among the measures announced by the Russian are funding the production of weapons and granting legal status to volunteers fighting in Donbass. The military mobilization events should start this Wednesday (21).
The Russian president accused the West of overstepping its bounds in its aggression against Russia and that Western support for Ukraine’s forces was aimed at turning the Ukrainian people into “cannon fodder” and preventing peace between the countries.
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