Conflicts & War

Russia’s ‘partial’ mobilization for Ukraine campaign concludes

Moscow, Oct 28 (EFE).- Russia’s partial mobilization of troops ordered in September by president Vladimir Putin to bolster the country’s forces in Ukraine has concluded, officials confirmed on Friday.

“The enlistment of citizens for mobilization concluded today. The target you set – 300,000 men – has been met. No additional recruitments are planned,” Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin during a meeting that was broadcast on public television.

Of the total 300,000 reservists, 82,000 have been sent to Ukraine to participate in the “special military operation,” he explained, adding that 41,000 have been deployed to combat units.

Shoigu specified that 218,000 out of the 300,000 mobilized reservists “are undergoing training and practicing interoperability at practice ranges.”

He added that the average age of the reservists is 35-years old.

He admitted that they had encountered difficulties during the mobilization, something he described as “inevitable”, considering that “such campaigns have not been held in our country for a long time,” since the last large-scale mobilization in WWII.

“We need to modernize the entire system of military registration and enlistment offices,” he added.

Putin on September 21 decreed the mobilization of 300,000 reservists who had completed their military service, sparking a massive exodus of Russians of military age.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled to post-Soviet countries such as Georgia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as to neighboring Finland, which was recently accepted into Nato.

The Russian independent press and some of those who have been called up have posted videos on social media about the lack of equipment, training and poor living conditions.

According to human rights activists, the Russian military justice system filed the first criminal case this week after a soldier left his unit in Siberia after refusing to fire on Ukrainians.EFE

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