Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization in Russia during a prerecorded speech on Wednesday. The mobilization will begin immediately.

Only reservists will be called up, with a focus on those with experience, said Putin. The president added that militants in the Luhansk and Donbass Peoples Republics will be considered as soldiers of the Russian Federation going forward.

“Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind can turn in their direction.” Russian President Vladimir Putin

NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization of thousands of extra troops for the war in Ukraine will escalate the conflict and his threat to use nuclear weapons was “

He said that, Putin’s moves demonstrated “that the war is not going according to his plans” and it was clear that the Russian president had made “a big miscalculation.”

Stoltenberg added “We will make sure that there is no misunderstanding in Moscow about exactly how we will react. Of course it depends upon what kind of situation or what kind or weapons they may use. The most important thing is to prevent that from happening and that is why we have been so clear in our communications with Russia about the unprecedented consequences.

Putin referred to the Ukrainian government as a “neo-Nazi” regime and claimed that Western countries had “crossed every line” and tried to blackmail Russia with nuclear weapons.

“We are talking not only about the shelling of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, which is encouraged by the West, which threatens a nuclear catastrophe, but also about the statements of some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO states about the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction against Russia nuclear weapons,” said Putin. 

“To those who allow themselves to make such statements about Russia, I would like to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for some components more modern than those of the NATO countries. And if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It’s not a bluff.”

“weaken and destroy Russia,” adding that “When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff.”

“After the Kyiv regime publicly renounced a peaceful solution to the Donbas problem and announced its claims to nuclear weapons, it became clear that a new offensive was inevitable. And then there would be an attack on the Crimea on Russia,” said the Russian president.

Putin additionally stressed that Russia would “support the decision of the residents of” Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donbass and Luhansk, referencing a referendum expected to be held to annex the Ukrainian regions to Russia. Zaporizhzhia was not mentioned in earlier announcements about the referendum.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu also spoke during the address, updating that 5,937 Russian soldiers have been killed in the invasion of Ukraine.

According to the defense minister, a total of 300,000 soldiers will be called up during the partial mobilization. Shoigu estimated that there are about 25 million Russians in the country who could be called up if needed, but stressed that students would not be subject to the mobilization and that conscripts would not be sent to the war in Ukraine.

“Russia is fighting not so much with the Ukrainian army as with the collective West,” said Shoigu, adding that “The entire NATO satellite constellation is working against the Russian Federation in Ukraine” and that “Western command sits in Kyiv and directs the military operation in Ukraine.”