Russian President Vladimir Putin wants the country's military to be partially deployed todefend the motherland.
During a televised address on Wednesday morning, Putin said that those called up would be given the same status as regulars in the armed forces. Putin accused the west of trying to blackmail Russia and promised to use all resources to defend his people.
The territorial integrity of our motherland, our independence, and freedom will be secured, I repeat with all the means we have, said Putin.
The prevailing winds can turn in the direction of those who try to blackmail us.
The Washington Post is reporting that 300,000 people will be drafted into the military. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that conscripts and students won't be called up.
There will be referendums on joining Russia within the next few days, according to officials in four occupied regions. The referendum will not change anything according to the Ukrainian officials.
Russia has been occupying some of the land of the Ukranian people. Ukranian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that his country has the right to liberate its territories.
The defense ministry of Ukraine said that the Nazis had a referendum on the Anschluss of Austria. The results are expected in 1938. They will get Hitler's 1945 result.
On Tuesday, officials from the west expressed the same sentiment. The NATO Secretary General said that the referendums are a further escalation in Putin's war. The Pentagon Press Secretary told reporters that the votes were meant to distract from the current state of affairs in the Russian military.
After several weeks of Ukrainian advances along the war's eastern and southern fronts, the referendums come after a punishing counteroffensive in the northeast of the country.
Putin's military is facing a huge personnel shortage in the face of battlefield losses. A senior US defense official said on Monday that Russia is having a hard time finding volunteers to fight in Ukraine because of the high number of casualties and poor battlefield performance.
Private mercenaries with close Kremlin ties who have been fighting alongside Russian troops in Ukraine are having staffing problems of their own. The official said that many prisoners are not willing to take up arms in order to be freed.
The impact of Russia's manpower challenge has become increasingly severe according to a recent intelligence assessment by Britain.
The annexation of captured Ukrainian territories by Moscow would be used by the Kremlin to escalate the war and solve the Russian military's manpower issues, according to some Russia watchers.
Kevin Ryan, a retired US Army brigadier general and senior fellow at Harvard's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, told Insider that if the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk asked for accession into Russia, then it would happen.
Ryan said that this could have immediate implications.
Ryan said that Putin's military-manpower problem could be solved by the fact that all the conscripts can be used.
The red lines against fighting on Russian territory will be suddenly crossed. NATO weapons will be used inside Russia. The Russian state will be attacked directly. That is a Trigger for Using Nuclear Weapons.
If Putin feels pushed into a corner, the use of nuclear weapons by Russia can't be ruled out. Some Russia experts are skeptical that Moscow would use weapons of mass destruction given the consequences. The military alliance consists of 30 countries and many of them are nuclear powers.
Robert Orttung, a professor of international affairs at George Washington University, told Insider last week that he does not think Putin will use tactical nukes in this situation.
The Russian president would be too afraid of what the response would be if they used such a weapon, according to Orttung.
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