Terrified Russians have taken to the streets in protest against being sent to the front lines in Ukraine after Putin ordered the mobilisation of reservists in a dramatic escalation of the war.
More than 100 demonstrators holding ‘no to mobilisation’ signs and chanting anti-war slogans have been dragged away by armed police trying to stamp out the unrest across the country, while others desperately try to flee the country by snapping up one-way tickets from Moscow.
The disobedience and the exodus are driven by fears that Russia’s borders could soon close or that a broader call-up might send many men of fighting age to the war after Putin ordered the call-up of 300,000 military reserves today – a first in Russia since the Second World War.
Today’s protests began in Siberia, with demonstrators risking jail under draconian laws forbidding criticism of the armed forces, and more unrest is expected to spread to Moscow and St Petersburg.
One protester was hauled into detention in Novosibirsk after shouting at police and FSB officers at a rally: ‘I am not going to die for Putin, or for you!’
He told the armed law enforcement: ‘You know too well everything is f***** up!’
The man was loudly clapped by other protesters at the anti-war rally in Siberia’s unofficial capital police officer bellowed at him: ‘I demand you to stop this illegal activity.’
A protester’s voice is heard saying ‘What are you doing?’ as he is detained, while another asks: ‘Are you animals?’
One more voice said: ‘They are [protesting] so as not to be sent there [to the war in Ukraine].’
Anger has also erupted on social media and a new word was even invented to describe the hell Putin has unleashed – ‘Mogilisation’, from the Russian word ‘Могила’ [Mogila] – or grave, the morbid fate awaiting thousands drafted into the army.
While some took to the streets, others tried to flee the regime and ticket prices duly skyrocketed, with a family of three having to fork out £44,000 to fly to Johannesburg, while the cheapest flights to Dubai were costing more than £8,000 – about ten times the average monthly wage, for a one-way economy fare.
One protester was hauled into detention in Novosibirsk after shouting at police and FSB officers at a rally: ‘I am not going to die for Putin, or for you!’
Protestors at an unsanctioned rally against the mobilisation of reservists in Moscow were dragged away by Russian police officers
More than 100 demonstrators holding ‘no to mobilisation’ signs and chanting anti-war slogans have been dragged away by armed police trying to stamp out the unrest across the country. Pictured: people being arrested by police in Moscow
Russian police officers try to detain a protester during an anti-war protest in Moscow tonight, with other activists trying to pull them away
Russian police officers block Arbat Street, in Moscow, tonight as protesters gather to demonstrate against Putin’s mobilisation of 300,000 army reservists
A Russian police officer tries to detain a protester in Moscow tonight. Reports indicate that more than 800 people have been arrested by security forces in the country so far
A female activist holds an anti-mobilisation poster and shouts slogans during a protest in Arbat Street, Moscow, earlier tonight
Russian police officers stand guard during a rally in Moscow, after opposition activists called for street protests against the mobilisation of reservists ordered by President Vladimir Putin
Four police officers wearing black visors, vests and carrying batons detain a person in Moscow this evening
Today’s protests began in Siberia, with demonstrators risking jail under draconian laws forbidding criticism of the armed forces, but unrest later spread to the capital Moscow (pictured)
In Yekaterinburg (pictured) there were ugly scenes as civilians and police clashed on the street over the controversial new order
More than 100 demonstrators holding ‘no to mobilisation’ signs and chanting anti-war slogans have been dragged away by armed police
Protests have become almost impossible in Russia due to harsh punishments meted out for anyone questioning Putin’s war
More unrest was expected this evening in western Russian cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg, as protesters vented their fury, holding up ‘no to mobilisation’ signs
Police officers are seen deployed in central Novosibirsk following calls to protest against partial mobilisation announced by Putin today
A demonstrator is led away by armed police wielding batons in Novosibirsk as civil unrest breaks out across the country
People hold several posters. From left to right: ‘Our husbands, fathers and brothers don’t want to kill other husbands and fathers’, ‘No to (wiped out)’, ‘No to mogilisation’, ‘No to mobilisation’
A family walks in front of a billboard promoting the military in St Petersburg, with the slogan: ‘Serving Russia is a real job’
Google data showed a family of three would have to fork out £44,000 to get to Johannesburg today in a 45-hour trip with three layovers
All plane tickets to countries where Russians would not need a visa, including Turkey, Armenia and Georgia, have sold out, while national carrier Aeroflot is not displaying any tickets for today
The first protests began in Siberia today against Vladimir Putin’s move to force hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight in the war against Ukraine. Pictured: Novosibirsk
Vladimir Putin has today threatened to nuke the West over Ukraine, as he announced plans to annex occupied parts of its territory to the Russian mainland
Google searches for ‘How to leave Russia’ also increased today, data shows (pictured), as terrified civilians sought to avoid the prospect of conflict
A view of the Polish-Russian border crossing in Grzechotki-Mamonowo after Poland tightened restrictions on Russians entering the country,
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured today) said the call-up would be limited to those with experience as professional soldiers, and that students and those who had only served as conscripts would not be called up
Dozens were detained as demonstrators risked being jailed for weeks or years under draconian laws forbidding criticism of the armed forces
According to Russian investigative news outlet RBK, all plane tickets to countries where Russians would not need a visa, including Turkey, Armenia and Georgia, have now sold out, while flagship airline Aeroflot is not displaying any available flights.
Some alleged people already had been turned back from Russia’s land border with Georgia and that the website of the state Russian railway company collapsed because too many people were checking for ways out of the country.
Putin’s apocalyptic nuclear warnings have prompted even China to demand a ceasefire ‘through dialogue and consultation’, while Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Putin should return all occupied land, including Crimea, to its ‘rightful owners’.
Meanwhile the US will retaliate with ‘a devastating strike’ if Putin uses nuclear weapons, the United States Army’s former European commander has warned.
Russian Railways and Aeroflot said they hadn’t ‘yet’ been ordered to ban men aged 18 to 65 from boarding.
A group based in Serbia, Russians, Belarussians, Ukrainians and Serbs Together Against War, tweeted that there were no available flights to Belgrade from Russia until mid-October. Flights to Turkey, Georgia or Armenia also sold out, according to the Belgrade-based group.
Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition leader, said Putin was sending more Russians to their deaths for a failing war.
‘It is clear that the criminal war is getting worse, deepening, and Putin is trying to involve as many people as possible in this,’ Navalny said in a video message from jail recorded and published by his lawyers.
‘He wants to smear hundreds of thousands of people in this blood,’ Navalny said.
The tyrant’s announcement, made in an early-morning television address, raised fears that some men of fighting age would not be allowed to leave Russia.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the call-up would be limited to those with experience as professional soldiers, and that students and those who had only served as conscripts would not be called up.
Nevertheless, the move has raised fears of mass conscription in the worrying escalation of the war.
A former top Russian state TV presenter on propagandist Channel One, Zhanna Agalokova, 56, today publicly denounced Putin – and sent back honours she had been awarded.
In a letter she told the warmonger: ‘Mr President, your leadership is plunging the country into the abyss. I consider awards given by you as unacceptable.’
Meanwhile a mixture of fear, anger, and dissent was spreading across Russian social media networks.
‘I am super worried for my young male friends and my boyfriend,’ said one woman, 28, from a city thousands of miles east of the Kremlin where the Russian president issued his fateful TV call-up.
Lilianna D demanded: ‘I recommend mobilising the entire Duma [parliament] and their families first of all. And let people see how loyal they are.’
Andrey Shipilov, a Cyprus-based Russian journalist, posted: ‘A friend from Russia has just messaged…an entire institute’s [graduates], all reserve officers, have already been called up this morning’.
Putin vowed that he will use ‘all available means’ to defend what he sees as Russian territory, adding: ‘I’m not bluffing’ (pictured, a Russian nuclear test)
Russia has announced plans for referendums to take place in four regions of Ukraine it either fully or partially occupied – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson
The benchmark rouble-based MOEX index hit its lowest point since February 24
Putin’s gambit comes after Ukraine routed a large part of the Russian army last week, leaving him backed into a corner of his own making and facing the possible collapse of his so-called ‘special military operation’.
But rather than back down, the Russian leader has instead chosen to double down and hold the free world to ransom – putting Russia and its huge nuclear arsenal on direct collision course with Ukraine and its allies, who have already vowed not to accept the results of ‘sham’ referendums or to stop liberating occupied territory.
Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges today said any response by America ‘may not be nuclear’ but warned that if Putin were to use nukes in Ukraine that the US could look to ‘destroy the Black Sea Fleet or destroy Russian bases in Crimea’.
Gen Hodges, who commanded the US Army in Europe between 2014 and 2018, stressed the ‘possibility’ of Putin ordering a nuclear strike on Ukraine was ‘very unlikely’.
But he said the use of any strategic weapons of mass destruction would be met with a swift and severe reaction from President Joe Biden.
‘He [Putin] knows the US will have to respond if Russia uses a nuclear weapon,’ Gen Hodges told MailOnline.
‘The US response may not be nuclear…but could very well be a devastating strike that could, for example, destroy the Black Sea Fleet or destroy Russian bases in Crimea.
‘So, I think President Putin and those around him will be reluctant to draw the US into the conflict directly.’
John Kirby, spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said Putin’s nuclear threat was ‘irresponsible’ and it would be taken ‘seriously’ by the US.
The White House official reiterated previous comments by President Joe Biden when asked what the US response would be to Russia reaching for its nuclear arsenal, which analysts speculate could mean detonating a demonstration blast over the Black Sea, using battlefield nuclear warheads to limit the radiation, or ultimately using a larger weapon.
‘There’ll be severe consequences. Not only will he be that much more of pariah on the world stage, but there’ll have to be severe consequences that the international community will have.’
NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg added that Putin was issuing ‘dangerous and reckless rhetoric’, but it demonstrated ‘that the war is not going according to his plans’ and it was clear that the Russian president had made ‘a big miscalculation’.
Speaking ahead of Putin’s speech last night, President Zelensky dismissed ‘noise’ from Russia and said it will not alter Ukraine’s resolve. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba likewise vowed: ‘The Russians can do whatever they want. It will not change anything. Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say.’
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodrymyr Zelensky, spoke out this morning after Putin’s announcement – calling it ‘predictable’ and saying it show the war is not going to plan. President Joe Biden is expected to give a speech to the UN later today when he will rally Ukraine’s allies to stay the course.
Retired Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, who commanded the US Army in Europe between 2014 and 2018, said the chance of Putin nuking Ukraine was ‘very unlikely’
The US could launch ‘devastating strikes’ on Russian military targets in Crimea and the Black Sea, pictured, if Putin nukes Ukraine, a former US Army commander has warned today
Podolyak said mobilisation will prove extremely unpopular within Russia, and accused Putin of trying to shift the blame for starting an ‘unprovoked war’ and crashing the economy on to the West.
It is thought the mobilisation will press around 300,000 people into the Russian army – around twice the size of the force that Putin invaded with.
But it is unclear when exactly these men will become available, and the move will do nothing to solve Russia’s chronic lack of equipment, supplies and other logistical issues that have spelled disaster for its invasion so-far.
Putin had resisted declaring any kind of mobilistion until now, apparently fearing backlash from Russians who may have been supporting his ‘special military operation’ only because they had nothing to lose.
But the Russian leader dramatically changed tack under pressure from allies, propagandists and hardliners after another humiliating military defeat near Kharkiv last week which had sparked calls for him to resign.
He was at pains to stress that the mobilisation is only partial, and will not affect ordinary citizens, conscripts or students. Those called up to service – starting today – will be those with experience of service and combat, he insisted.
Speaking after Putin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu gave a rare update on Russian casualty figures, preposterously claiming that only 6,000 Kremlin troops have been killed in the war so far.
Ukrainian losses, he said, were ten times that: 61,000 dead in addition to 49,000 wounded.
In a speech delayed for 13 hours overnight – triggering wishful rumours of a coup inside the Kremlin – Putin delivered his twisted interpretation of the war to date.
He attempted to rewrite history to paint the West and NATO as the aggressor – saying they had pushed Ukraine into a war with Russia, despite ordering an invasion of the country himself just seven months ago.
Ukraine began the war back in 2014, he said – referring to the date of Russia’s last invasion – when the ‘Nazi’ regime in Kyiv had turned the military on its own civilians in an attempted genocide following what he called a ‘coup’ to oust the country’s last pro-Kremlin leader.
In Putin’s retelling, the West ‘refused a peaceful solution’ and instead began rearming Ukraine for an attack on the Donbas – leaving him with no choice but to launch a pre-emptive war to protect people.
He falsely claimed that peace negotiations with Ukraine were deliberately undermined by Kyiv’s bloody-minded Western allies, who then began training and equipping its armed forces with the goal of destroying Russia.
Attacks on schools and hospitals are not the work of the Russian army, as reams of evidence suggests, but are in fact the work of Ukrainian Nazis and nationalists, he said.
Facing these threats, Putin said he has no choice but to accept the requests of his puppet leaders in occupied Ukraine to hold referendums on joining Russia, and no choice but to call up his military reserves.
He added: ‘In its aggressive anti-Russian policies, the West has crossed all lines… There are plans in Washington and Brussels to move the military action on to Russian territory.
A dead soldier lies on the ground in Ukraine as Putin dramatically escalates his war
A refrigerated train filled with the bodies of Putin’s fallen troops returns from Ukraine earlier in the war
‘They are not just talking about Russia being destroyed on the battlefield, they are talking about political, cultural, and all other types of sovereignty with complete pillage. Now they’re talking about nuclear blackmail.
‘Those who make such statements will be reminded that our country also has various weapons of destruction and with regard to certain components they are even more modern than the NATO ones.
‘If there is any threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to protect our people we will certainly use all means available to us. I’m not bluffing.
‘Russia citizens can be certain that the territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence and security will be assured. I shall stress – by all means available to us
‘And those trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the tables can turn on them
‘In our historic tradition our people had it in their destiny to stop those how are trying to subjugate our motherland and it will happen now.’
The allegations are an almost exact inversion of everything Russia has been accused of doing, and is a common trope of Kremlin propaganda.
Referendums will begin this week into next week, according to Russia occupation authorities, with the results expected to be announced shortly after.
Police and officials will go door-to-door to ensure people cast their votes, they said, leaving few doubts about which way they will be voting.
Ballot boxes will also be set up inside Russia itself, ostensibly to allow those who have already fled those regions a chance to cast a vote – but in all likelihood will be stuffed with fake ballots.
Early ‘polling’ released by Russian state media last night showed – unsurprisingly – that more than 80 per cent of people in the four regions want to join Russia.
In Donetsk and Luhansk – the focus of Putin’s war effort – the reported figure was over 90 per cent.
Russians gather in front of a billboard in St Petersburg displaying a picture of a Russian soldier along with the slogan ‘Glory to the heroes of Russia’, after Putin announced he will start conscripting men into the army
Putin attempted to revise history in his address, claiming the West was using Ukrainians as cannon fodder despite his military striking civilian targets (pictured)
Russia will also carry out a partial military mobilisation, Putin said, with veterans and reservists with combat or service experience called up (pictured, Russian marines in training)
Russia is now almost seven months into what was intended to be a days-long war in Ukraine, and the situation for its troops is becoming increasingly desperate.
Having been forced to retreat from Kyiv in the early months of fighting after its advance stalled, the Kremlin’s war machine instead focused its efforts on ‘liberating’ the eastern Donbas region.
Months of grinding warfare saw Russia capture the whole of the Luhansk region, but only around half of neighbouring Donetsk – which make up the Donbas.
As Russia’s advances slowed and then stopped, Ukraine went on the counter-attack – launching an offensive on the southern city of Kherson.
Russia moved forces from other areas of the country to help defend the city, at which point Ukraine launched a second counter-attack east out of Kharkiv – in the north.
That move caught the Kremlin’s commanders completely off guard, triggering a rout that handed 3,000 square miles of territory that Russia had spent months capturing back to Ukraine in just a few days.
And Kyiv has continued to press the attack, regaining a foothold in the Luhansk region and threatening to push further across the province.
Faced with war on two fronts and not enough men to hold the territory he has already captured, Putin was left with few options but to begin conscripting men.
However, experts and analysts say it will do little to turn the tide of the war in his favour.
It will take at least weeks, possibly months, to gather, equip, train and transport hundreds of thousands more men to the frontlines – time that Russia does not have.
By the time reinforcements arrive winter will be setting in when combat operations will be considerably harder, compounding the issues that Russia’s military already faces.
And mobilising more men will do nothing to solve the chronic lack of equipment and supplies among Russia’s ranks, or fix the logistical issues which have hampered its attacks.
Some drew comparisons with the disastrous Winter War that the Soviet Union fought against Finland, which ended with hundreds of thousands of Red Army troops dead or wounded to around 25,000 Finnish.
Western leaders had pre-empted Putin’s remarks at the UN last night, saying they would not recognise the results of any ‘sham’ referendums in Ukraine.
‘The Russians can do whatever they want. It will not change anything,’ Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday as world leaders were arriving for the United Nations General Assembly meeting.
He later doubled down on the issue, tweeting: ‘Sham ‘referendums’ will not change anything. Neither will any hybrid ‘mobilization.’
‘Russia has been and remains an aggressor illegally occupying parts of Ukrainian land. Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say.’
French President Emmanuel Macron said that if the referendum plan ‘wasn’t so tragic it would be funny.’
He described Russia’s invasion as ‘a return to a new age of imperialism and colonies’ and warned that inaction risked ‘tearing down the global order without which peace is not possible.’
‘It’s not a matter of choosing one side between East and West, or North or South. It’s a matter of responsibility’ to the UN Charter, he said.
Putin lashed out at the free world after his military suffered a humiliating rout near Kharkiv last week that handed a swathe of territory back to Ukraine (pictured, destroyed Russian tanks)
Russia is increasingly resorting to desperate moves to hold on to the territory it has seized in Ukraine, including the apparent use of incendiary weapons (pictured)
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the world was ‘facing a new fragmentation’ after years of hope following the end of the Cold War and his own nation’s reunification.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the world was ‘facing a new fragmentation’ after years of hope following the end of the Cold War and his own nation’s reunification.
Scholz said that President Vladimir Putin, who invaded Ukraine in February, will ‘only give up his war and his imperialist ambitions if he realizes he cannot win.’
‘We stand firmly at the side of those under attack — for the protection of the lives and the freedom of the Ukrainians, and for the protection of our international order,’ he said.
And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the assembly the U.N.’s credibility was in danger because of the invasion by Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council.
‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a conduct that tramples the philosophy and principles of the U.N. charter … It should never be tolerated,’ Kishida said.
President Joe Biden will make an address to the UN today in which he will argue that Russia’s ‘naked aggression’ in Ukraine is an affront to the heart of what the international body stands for.
White House officials said the focus of his time at the general assembly will be rallying Ukraine allies to stay the course against Russia, and remain united in the face of Putin’s threats.
‘He’ll offer a firm rebuke of Russia’s unjust war in Ukraine and make a call to the world to continue to stand against the naked aggression that we’ve seen these past several months,’ White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in previewing the president’s address.
‘He will underscore the importance of strengthening the United Nations and reaffirm core tenets of its charter at a time when a permanent member of the Security Council has struck at the very heart of the charter by challenging the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty.’
In his nightly address Zelenskyy said there were lots of questions surrounding the announcements but stressed that they would not change Ukraine’s commitment to retake areas occupied by Russian forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed world leaders at the UN last night, thanking Western leaders for condemning Russia’s plans to break away parts of his country
Emmanuel Macron was among leaders to address the UN on Ukraine last night, accusing Putin of trying to ‘return to an age of imperialism and colonies’
‘The situation on the front line clearly indicates that the initiative belongs to Ukraine,’ he said. ‘Our positions do not change because of the noise or any announcements somewhere. And we enjoy the full support of our partners in this.
‘I thank all friends and partners of Ukraine for today’s mass principled firm condemnation of Russia’s attempts to stage new sham referenda,’ Zelensky said.
In another signal that Russia is digging in for a protracted and ramped-up conflict, the Kremlin-controlled lower of house of parliament voted Tuesday to toughen laws against desertion, surrender and looting by Russian troops.
Lawmakers also voted to introduce possible 10-year prison terms for soldiers refusing to fight.
If approved, as expected, by the upper house and then signed by Putin, the legislation would strengthen commanders’ hands against failing morale reported among soldiers.
In the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar, shelling continued around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Ukrainian energy operator Energoatom said Russian shelling again damaged infrastructure at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and briefly forced workers to start two diesel generators for emergency power to reactor cooling pumps.
Such pumps are essential for avoiding a meltdown at a nuclear facility even though all six of the plant’s reactors have been shut down. Energoatom said the generators were later switched off as main power weas restored.
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been a focus for concern for months because of fears that shelling could lead to a radiation leak. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the shelling.
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