According to information from Kyiv, the Kremlin wants to mobilize tens of thousands of men again in the new year. Russia also plans to close the borders.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov addressed the Russian population in a video address. In it he warns the Russians against renewed mobilization. “I know for sure that you have about a week to make a choice,” he says in the video posted on YouTube.
“Today you may still be thinking about how the holiday table should be set, but under the ringing bells you will not hear the military knocking on the door”. According to Reznikov, the borders are to be closed to people at the beginning of January, martial law is to be declared and another wave of mobilization is to be launched.
On September 21, Russia’s President Putin announced partial mobilization. As a result, tens of thousands of people tried to leave the country. Putin recently said that no new mobilization was necessary.
The New Year celebrations are a good occasion to reflect and realize that the Kremlin has lost the war, Resnikov said. There is nothing worth fighting for. In his New Year’s speech, the minister listed the number of Russian defeats this year. He mentioned, for example, the sinking of the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s flagship Moskva and the explosions at military airfields in the Russian hinterland.
Russia has already lost more than 100,000 soldiers in this war, Resnikov said. “If that was the plan, only Russia’s enemies could have created it that way,” he said, also referring to the loss of Moscow’s image in the world.
The minister accused the leadership in Moscow of constantly planning new waves of mobilization in order not to admit defeat in Ukraine, in order to stay in power and not have to take responsibility for the many war crimes. Reznikov said he spoke not only as a minister but also as a lawyer. “The longer the war lasts, the more severe the consequences will be for ordinary people, for ordinary Russians,” he said. Generations in Russia would have to pay for the damage done. But Ukraine will not give up. “We defend our earth.” (tsp, dpa)
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