The Ukrainian military has issued a warning that Putin intends to round up up to 500,000 more troops in order to prepare for a fresh invasion in Ukraine.
Anticipate Mobilization
Andriy Chernyak, a spokesperson of the Ukrainian Military Intelligence Service, told the German news outlet T-Online that they anticipate the mobilization to be declared on January 15 following the Orthodox Christian Christmas.
According to Chernyak, 500,000 people will be mobilized, with residents of places like Moscow and St. Petersburg being the most adversely affected.
According to Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine’s deputy military intelligence head, the trainees will be employed in strikes that start in the spring in the country’s east and south.
Skibitsky said: “We anticipate them to launch offensive operations in the areas of Donetsk and Kharkiv as well as potentially in Zaporizhzhia, but to defend in Kherson and Crimea, they will require this amount of personnel.”
According to accounts, Skibitsky warned, “Putin would collapse if Russia loses this time.”
The current influx of personnel will significantly expand the number of Russian military stationed in the seized Ukrainian territory.
280K Troops Presently Present
The Evening Standard reports that 280,000 troops are presently present in Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official.
For months, there has been talk of a second mobilization.
Regional leaders in Russia wrote to Putin in November, pleading with him to halt calling up reservists to fight in Ukraine.
According to the Institute of War, there have been rumors of a new mobilization spread by pro-Kremlin military bloggers in Russia.
Putin said last month that there was no need for a second wave of mobilization and that reports of one were “pointless,” according to The Guardian.
More Soldiers
Many of the 300,000 soldiers that Russia mobilized in October were inexperienced, aged, ill, or too young to fight, which led to harsh criticism of the move.
The mobilized troops have reportedly engaged in drunken fights and acts of disciplinelessness, with one recent event ending in the assassination of a Russian military officer.
Other Reports, Drunken Fight
A journalist from Belarus posted a video on social media that purports to show freshly deployed troops fighting intoxicatedly.
Men can be seen crashing into one another, punching each other incoherently, and yelling in the footage, which was recorded in the Yuzhno-Kurilsk area of the Sakhalin Oblast. Insider couldn’t independently confirm it.
Putin declared the partial mobilization of the nation’s military reserves on Wednesday. According to Russian officials, 300,000 reserve personnel will be conscripted right now.
