Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks in a prerecorded address to the nation in Moscow, Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. | Russian Presidential Press Service via AP
By Myah Ward
09/21/2022 11:36 AM EDT
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s move to mobilize as many as 300,000 military reservists, an escalation in the Kremlin’s faltering Ukraine invasion, is “definitely a sign that Putin is “struggling,” the White House said Wednesday.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the calling up of more troops was expected but acknowledged the large number — and what it indicates in this stage of the war.
“I mean, that is almost twice as much as he committed to the war back in February of this year,” Kirby said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “It’s definitely a sign that he’s struggling.”
Kirby’s remarks came after Putin announced the partial mobilization of reservists in a prerecorded address on state television earlier in the day. It was a significant escalation from Putin, following Ukraine’s successful reclaiming of territory in the north — adding pressure on the Kremlin to lay out its next steps in response to Kyiv’s advances on the battlefield.
In the national address, Putin also backed plans to annex occupied areas in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and the country’s southern Kherson region, and he threatened the use of nuclear weapons if Kyiv continues its fight to reclaim the territory.
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