- Nuclear threat increased, but ‘we haven’t gone crazy’ – Putin
- Russia reportedly fired more than 1,000 shots into Ukraine’s power grid
LONDON/Kyiv, Dec 8 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged that his army could be fighting in Ukraine for a long time, but there will be no second call for troops for now.
Putin has rarely spoken about the length of a war that began more than nine months ago, but he told the faithful in a televised meeting on Wednesday that it could continue for some time.
“This can be a long process,” he said.
Russia has been forced into a series of significant withdrawals in the face of Ukrainian counter-offensives, carried out with increased Western weapons stockpiles, in the east and south since July.
Russia launched what it calls its “special military operation” in February, saying Ukraine’s deepening ties to the West posed a security threat. Ukraine and its allies say the invasion amounts to an imperialist land grab.
Putin, in his remarks, said the risk of nuclear war was rising, but that Russia would not recklessly threaten to use such weapons.
“We have not gone crazy, we realize what nuclear weapons are,” Putin said. “We have these means in a more advanced and modern form than any other nuclear country… But we are not about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an interview published Thursday that the risk of Putin using nuclear weapons had decreased in response to international pressure.
MOBILIZATION
About 150,000 of the 300,000 reservists called up in September and October had been deployed to Ukraine, 77,000 in combat units, Putin said. The remaining 150,000 were still in training centers.
“Under these conditions, talking about any additional mobilization measures simply does not make sense,” Putin said.
The Russian economy has overcome the short-term slump caused by the partial mobilization order, but the disinflationary impact it had on reducing consumer demand has largely disappeared, the central bank said on Wednesday.
Despite recent battlefield retreats, including the loss of Kherson, the only Ukrainian provincial capital Russia captured, Putin has said he has no regrets about launching a war that has become the country’s most devastating of Europe since the Second World War.
He said Russia had achieved a “significant result” by acquiring “new territories”, a reference to the annexation of four partially occupied regions in September that Ukraine and most of the United Nations condemned as illegal .
[1/3] Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via video link in Moscow, Russia, December 6, 2022. Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS
‘APOCALYPSE’
Russian airstrikes killed 10 people and wounded many more in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kurakhove on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Fighting was fierce around the nearby town of Bakhmut.
“The enemy has recently become very active, he is on the offensive, his aviation is more active, there are continuous air intelligence missions,” said a commander of the Ukrainian unit with the nom de guerre flag
“All day yesterday, our positions were being shelled, their drones were in the air all day.”
Russian forces have fired more than 1,000 rockets and missiles at Ukraine’s power grid, which is still functioning despite heavy damage, the Interfax Ukraine news agency reported Wednesday, citing the grid operator’s CEO Ukrainergo.
Eight recent waves of Russian airstrikes on critical infrastructure have severely damaged the grid and caused emergency and planned outages across the country, including in the capital Kyiv, a city of three million people.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned of an “apocalypse” scenario without electricity, running water or heat this winter if Russian airstrikes on infrastructure continue. He said there was no need to evacuate residents now, although they should be prepared to do so.
Kyiv could be left without central heating at a time when temperatures could drop to -15 degrees Celsius (5 Fahrenheit), Klitschko said in an interview with Reuters.
DO YOU PLAY BELARUSIAN CARD?
Russia’s ally Belarus said it was moving troops and military hardware to counter what it called a terrorist threat, amid signs that Moscow may be pressuring Minsk to open a new front in Ukraine.
President Alexander Lukashenko, who relied on Russian troops to quell a popular uprising two years ago, has blocked his own army from joining the war in Ukraine. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu flew unannounced to the capital, Minsk, on Saturday, where he and his Belarusian counterpart, Viktor Khrenin, signed amendments to a security cooperation agreement, without disclosing the new terms.
On Wednesday, Belarus’ Security Council, quoted by the state-run Belta news agency, said troops and hardware would move into the country over the next two days, with mock weapons used for training. He did not provide any details on the number of troops or the types of hardware that would be moved.
Thousands of Russian troops have been deployed in Belarus since October, Ukraine says, and Belarusian authorities have increasingly spoken of a “terrorism” threat from supporters operating from across the border .
Reuters bureau reports; writing by Grant McCool; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Robert Birsel
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Mark Trevelyan
Thomson Reuters
Lead writer on Russia and the CIS. He worked as a journalist on 7 continents and reported from over 40 countries, with postings in London, Wellington, Brussels, Warsaw, Moscow and Berlin. Covered the breakup of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Security correspondent from 2003 to 2008. Speaks French, Russian and German (rusty) and Polish.