Putin: Call-up of Russian reservists to finish in 2 weeks
Source: AP
By SABRA AYRES
KYIV, UKRAINE (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday he expects a mobilization of army reservists he ordered to bolster his country’s troops in Ukraine to be completed in two weeks, a milestone that would allow him to end the unpopular call-up as the Kremlin tries to counter Ukrainian gains on the battlefield.
After attending a summit in Kazakhstan of regional leaders from Asia and eastern Europe, Putin told reporters he does not regret starting the conflict with Russia’s neighbor and “did not set out to destroy Ukraine” when he sent troops into the country nearly eight months ago.
“What is happening today is unpleasant, to put it mildly,” he said. “But we would have had all this a little later, only under worse conditions for us, that’s all. So my actions are correct and timely.”
In his comments on the army mobilization, Putin said the call-up he ordered last month had registered 222,000 of the 300,000 reservists the Russian Defense Ministry set as an initial goal. A total of 33,000 of them are already in military units, and 16,000 are involved in combat, he said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), in Astana, Kazakhstan, Friday, Oct. 14, 2022. (Ramil Sitdikov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-moscow-evacuations-ed603a5383d722b542698d5eb332328b?utm_source=homepage&utm_medium=TopNews&utm_campaign=position_04
= new reply since forum marked as read
