Residents In Ukraine’s Kyiv Slam Putin’s Mobilisation Order As Mark Of Desperation. On Wednesday, residents of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, ridiculed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s call-up of military reservists as an indication of desperation and expressed confidence in their own armed forces to expel Russian troops from their nation.
In the first such mobilization in Russia since World War Two, Putin called up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine, warning that if the West pressed what he called its “nuclear blackmail” over the situation there, Moscow would answer with the force of all its massive arsenal.
Viktor Chekhnii, a 46-year-old geographer who works at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, said that if there was a widespread (Russian) mobilization, “the threat would be greater, but I think at this stage Putin is unwilling to make such a move since Russians like to fight with words.” Few Russians, he continued, wanted to fight on the front lines.
“Putin still has some sense, in my opinion; he is not completely insane. Therefore, if nuclear weapons are used, both the survival of Russia and the entire world may be in danger.”
Residents In Ukraine’s Kyiv Slam Putin’s Mobilisation Order As Mark Of Desperation. Oleksandr Sharkin, a 31-year-old citizen of Kiev, who was walking close to the neo-classical opera building while carrying a bouquet of flowers, expressed that feeling.
The motivation of their soldiers will be much weaker than that of the contractors, he predicted, if they (the Russians) are made to fight a war.
One of the reasons why what Moscow refers to as its “special military operation” in Ukraine is moving slowly has been attributed by Kiev and its Western partners to the low morale of Russian soldiers.
‘Empty Words’
Residents of Kyiv showed tremendous support for Ukraine’s armed forces, who with the assistance of Western weapons have been battling Russia’s considerably larger military for for seven months on numerous fronts and recently reclaimed large areas of territory.
In the early stages of the conflict, after encountering stiff Ukrainian resistance, Russian forces abandoned their plan to conquer Kyiv proper and shifted their attention to other areas.
“I firmly believe that we should only have faith in our armed forces. There is no point in listening to them or engaging in negotiations since they (the Russians) will continue to make threats as long as they are present. All of these are hollow words “Kyrylo Kundik, a student, age 23.
Hanna, 42, who declined to give her surname, said she believed Putin no longer knew what to do in Ukraine and was trying to “make people fear his words”.
“He is a mentally ill person. I believe in Ukraine’s armed forces and hope that nothing bad will happen and that we will be defended. So we trust in our guys at the frontlines,” she said.
