The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the mobilization of reservists “in a special period” in order to complete the Army that fights the pro-Russian militias in Donbas and faces the Russian military threat on the border.
“We must improve the combat readiness of the Ukrainian troops in the face of any change in the operational situation,” Zelensky said during a televised address. The Ukrainian president announced that “shortly” training exercises will be held for the reservists who will make up the territorial defense units.
At the time, the president ordered to increase the number of members of these units to 2 million, including hunters and rangers. He assured that, for the moment, “there is no need for a general mobilization” among the population, something that the pro-Russian militias did last Saturday with all the men of legal age.
Zelensky too today ruled out a full-scale war with Russia, for which he rejected the imposition of martial law in Donbas, despite Russian recognition of the independence of the separatist republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Russian troops in Donbas
Russian President Vladimir Putin today requested authorization from the Russian Senate to be able to send troops abroad, that is, to Donbas, supposedly to pacify the territory populated mainly by the Russian-speaking population.
The president, who considered such recognition a violation of the territorial integrity of his country, did not announce the breaking of diplomatic relations with Moscow, something that he said this morning that he would seriously consider and that some politicians insistently request. In turn, he announced a program of “economic patriotism” that includes different stimulus measures to support local business, which he called to stay in Ukraine and defend its economy and create jobs. “Our goal is to achieve economic independence, especially in the field of energy,” he stressed.
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Zelensky lamented that the West had not adopted preventive sanctions against Russia before it recognized the breakaway republics. However, Kiev welcomed decisions such as the suspension by Germany of the certification of the controversial Nord Stream gas pipeline, which must carry Russian gas to Germany by avoiding Ukrainian territory.
The president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, as well as his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nauseda, will travel to Kiev on Wednesday to meet with the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, amid the escalation of tensions between this country and Russia.