The Wall Street Journal reports Putin Threatens Nuclear Response in Ukraine.
“Russia will use all the instruments at its disposal to counter a threat against its territorial integrity—this is not a bluff,” Mr. Putin said in a national address that blamed the West for the continuing conflict in Ukraine, where he said his troops were facing the best of Western troops and weapons.
In his speech, Mr. Putin cast the mobilization as a response to what he called a decades long Western plot to break up Russia.
The bellicose address to the nation comes after officials in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine on Tuesday announced plans for Russia to annex four regions in the country’s east and south. The move would allow Mr. Putin to describe a Ukrainian offensive on that territory as tantamount to an attack on Russia.
In his 15-minute speech, Mr. Putin stressed that he was ordering only a partial mobilization of troops by calling up active reservists and specialists whose military experience was needed to support what the Kremlin still calls a “special operation” in Ukraine.
Speaking on state television shortly after Mr. Putin, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared to prime the Russian population for a protracted war. “All our weapons systems, including the nuclear triad, are fulfilling their tasks,” said Mr. Shoigu.
He said the draft would amount to 300,000 reservists who would be deployed to help secure the territories Russia is occupying.
Desperate Times and Measures
No one knows what Putin will do. He may not even know himself.
But it’s pretty clear he will not fulfill his dream of putting a puppet government in Kyiv.
How much more pain will Russia’s top military brass will take before they have had enough of Putin?
A coup at this point would not be shocking. But neither would three more years of stalemate.
This post originated at MishTalk.Com
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