Putin is calling on the reservists to take up arms – and they are trying to avoid being called up in droves. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addresses reluctant fighters in Russian. Anyone who surrenders voluntarily has nothing to fear.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has condemned partial mobilization in Russia for the war against his country as a “crime” and called on Moscow’s fighters to surrender. It is better to refuse to be called up for service than to be maimed or die as a war criminal on foreign soil, Zelensky said in a video message in Russian published on Saturday evening. At the same time he offered that Russian soldiers could voluntarily go into captivity. There they would be treated in a civilized manner according to the Martial Law Convention. “Nobody will find out the circumstances of your task,” Zelenskyj tries to allay the Russian fighters’ fear of their own military courts.
The head of state addressed the neighbors in Russian for the second time this week – against the “criminal mobilization”. With a view to the high penalties for deserters in Russia, which Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin put into effect on Saturday, Zelenskyj said that nobody would know under what circumstances the soldiers gave up. “If you’re afraid to return and don’t want a prisoner exchange, then we’ll find a way to ensure that, too.”
Russia’s commanders are not interested in the lives of their soldiers, they are only interested in filling posts that have been vacated by death, injury, imprisonment and flight. “Ukraine will do everything to win,” said Zelenskyy. She has the right to defend her children and her freedom against the Russian invaders. Everything will continue to be done for the liberation of all areas, including the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, Zelenskyy confirmed.
Kremlin chief Putin wants to draft in around 300,000 reservists to hold the areas still occupied in Ukraine after the Russian army was defeated. Putin therefore ordered partial mobilization on Wednesday – seven months after the invasion of Ukraine. This caused panic among many Russians, and there are kilometers of traffic jams at the borders with neighboring countries that do not require a visa. Despite the repression, there is now protest against the partial mobilization and the war. More than 2,000 people have been arrested in dozens of Russian cities since Wednesday.
