Russia announced this Friday the second military call for 2023, which will include for the first time the Ukrainian regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Lugansk, annexed a year ago by Moscow.
Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky, head of Organization and Mobilization of the Russian General Staff, reported that the new call will begin on October 1 and will cover all regions of the country, “including the new ones,” in reference to the four regions annexed after the invasion of Ukraine in February of last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree that affects 130,000 Russians between 18 and 27 years old. Tsimlianski tried to calm fears that the recruits could be sent to the battlefield, saying they will not serve “in the new regions.”
In addition, he tried to dispel any concerns about a new mobilization in Russia, such as the one decreed in September last year, highlighting that the number of those interested in signing contracts with the Armed Forces and of volunteers “is sufficient to carry out the tasks that have been entrusted to him” in Ukraine.
Moscow’s announcement was made on the eve of the first anniversary of the annexation of these four Ukrainian regions, which are not under the full control of Russian forces and are currently the scene of bloody fighting.
Petro Andriyushchenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, a city in the south of the country occupied by the Russian army, warned the inhabitants of these regions that, “despite Putin’s lies, it is a proven fact that recruits are also sent to the front” . of combat.
Meanwhile, the Russian president today tasked Andrei Troshev, former chief of staff of the mercenary group Wagner, with the task of organizing “volunteer units” to fight in Ukraine.
During several months of fighting in Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine (east), the Russian Defense Ministry avoided mentioning the Wagner Group in its war reports, limiting itself to describing its members as “volunteers”, in an atmosphere of tension. between the leaders of the mercenary organization and the highest Russian military leadership.
The peak of tension was recorded three months ago, when members of the Wagner Group organized a mutiny (which would fail) against the Russian military leadership and which was led by its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in August in an air disaster north of Moscow. with other elements at the top of the paramilitary organization.
Putin highlighted the experience of the former chief of staff of the Wagner Group, who fought for more than a year in this type of units.
According to Ukraine, around 500 former members of the now-dismantled Wagner Group returned to Ukraine to fight on the front lines in the occupied city of Bakhmut.
Ukraine, for its part, chose today, at the first International Defense Industry Forum, held in Kiev, to promote the co-production of weapons on its territory with its Western allies, to continue covering its military needs.
This event in the Ukrainian capital brought together more than 160 companies from 26 countries. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a videoconference speech at the event that “only with courage are ‘drones’ [aparelhos não tripulados] “They are not stopped, only with heroism the missiles are not intercepted,” calling on Western allies to accelerate weapons production.
“Ukraine needs capabilities. High quality. Large quantity. And quickly,” he said, noting that many NATO countries have seen their arsenals reduced in their efforts to help Kiev.
Also in the Ukrainian capital, the Defense Ministers of Ukraine and France, Rustem Umerov and Sébastien Lecornu, agreed to move towards joint production of weapons, hours after the German company Rheinmetall announced the creation of a joint company in Kiev for the maintenance and repair of military weapons. equipment.
Source: TSF
