On Friday, October 28th, 2022, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reserves to fight in Ukraine that Russia began in September, is officially completed. Sergei Shoigu stated that out of the 300,000 mobilized recruits, 218,000 remained in training, and the other 82,000 was deployed to the conflict zone in Ukraine.
Shoigu, speaking at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a broadcast on state television, Shoigu went on to tell Putin: “The task set by out of 300,000 people has been completed. No further measures are planned”.
Now Putin declared a “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists on September 21st, the first since World War Two, after a series of military defeats saw Russian forces routed from east Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and under great amounts of pressure in the Southern Kherson region. This move caused a mass departure of military-able men from Russia, with thousands heading to countries like Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Armenia.
Across the country of Russia, over 2,000 civilians were arrested at anti-mobilization protests. There was plenty of public outcry over cases of men being mobilized despite medical exemptions, or lack of military experience.
Putin acknowledged problems with mobilization, saying that there were “inevitable”, and that it was necessary to make “corrections” to the development of Russia’s armed forces. Putin has set up a new coordination council to boost the military effort and ensure that men that are being sent to the front are properly armed and equipped.
This mobilization has implied that Russia is facing some very serious difficulties in the conflict they started against Ukraine, which Russian President Putin is still refusing to describe as a war with Ukraine, instead, he is still stating it as a “special military operation”. The benefits of this mobilization are still unknown and very questionable, according to experts. It is unclear right now whether the influx of newly-trained recruits has had any impact on ground fighting in Eastern and Southern Ukraine, where Kyiv is still seeing gains in.
Russia as of now still holds large parts of Southern and Eastern Ukraine and is partly occupying four regions of the country. But they have lost great amounts in the past few months and even in the past month when they unilaterally proclaimed their annexation. A move in which denounced by Kyiv, their Western allies, and the UN General Assembly as illegal.
Now it is time to sit back and see if this major mobilization will benefit or not for Russia.
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