Rewarding Russian Call-Up Protesters With Call-Up Summons

"[This winter] will be very difficult."

"They will shoot missiles, and they will target our electric grid."

"This is a challenge, but we are not afraid of that."

"[With the partial call-up of reserves] They admitted that their army is not able to fight with Ukraine anymore."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy

 

"It may be the moment to rethink the issue of visas to Russians …"

"Helping the men who want to flee from being mobilized would be a humanitarian and militarily good decision."

Gérard Araud, veteran French diplomat

 

"Many Russians who are now being called up do not want to take part in this war either. This is a good sign."

“A way must be left open for Russians to come to Europe and also to Germany."

German government spokesman

 

"[300,000 is] an immense number of people to then try to get in any sense of semblance to be able to fight in Ukraine."

"The authorities will face major challenges even in mustering this number of personnel."

"We think that they will be very challenged in training, let alone equipping such a large force quickly." "[Recruits will likely be issued] old stuff and unreliable equipment."

Unnamed European official

President Vladimir Putin's announcement of Russia's first military draft since the Second World War sparked waves of protests across the country, resulting in over 700 arrests.

In Germany, some officials express a wish to give aid to Russian men fleeing military service, calling for a Europe-wide solution. This desire to be of help to Russian citizens desperately attempting to avoid the partial reservist call-up issued by the Kremlin in the face of massive territorial losses the Ukrainian military counteroffensive has reclaimed for Ukraine, has found sympathy in France as well. But it is the eastern European countries, former satellites of the Soviet Union, those on Russia's near-abroad that are unwilling to open their borders to fleeing Russians.

 

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is bracing for additional strikes on Ukraine's electrical infrastructure in a Kremlin strategy to increae pressure on Ukraine and its backers in the West as colder weather enters leading to winter, Mr. Zelensky spoke disparagingly of the Russian mobilization, its first such event since the Second World War, as a symbol of weakness, not strength, signalling the Russian "army is not able to fight".

 

In the interim, the  United States has provided Ukraine with NASAMS air defence systems. Systems that use surface-to-air missiles to track and shoot down incoming missiles or aircraft. All of these powerful, more technologically advanced war machines continue to give Ukraine an upper hand in its offensive against a Russian military which has stumbled in its mission from 24 February forward in a gross upset of Moscow's arrogant plan to swiftly take Kyiv and unseat Ukraine's government for one of its own.

The European Union has closed itself off to Russian ingress. Direct flights were stopped, land borders increasingly closed to Russian travel, including the exodus of Russian men trying to evade military service. That very escaping influx has created dissension among European officials in the issue whether Russians abandoning their country's call-up for military service in Ukraine looking for safe haven in Europe can expect to be welcomed.

Protests have broken out all over Russia, with burgeoning antiwar demonstrations. Dagestan in the North Caucasus saw police firing warning shots to disperse protesters in the poverty-stricken region where a highway was blocked in protest of Russian President Vladimir Putin's military call-up. Women chanting "No to war!", in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, made it abundantly clear they have no intention of standing by while their men are marched off to war as a reflection of Vladimir Putin's vanity project.

The Siberian city of Yakutsk saw women protesting as well, marching in a circle around police and for their efforts many were dragged off by police or forced into police vans, according to Russian media videos. Recent days has seen a minimum of several thousand people arrested for demonstrations taking place around Russia. For their sacrifices in defying the government many of the men hauled off from the protests were immediately given call-up summons.

 

A protester is detained by police during an unsanctioned rally in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday. Despite Russia's harsh laws against criticizing the military and the war in Ukraine, protests erupted across the country after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)