“Ukraine – Russia”

Long lines of vehicles continue to form at Russia’s border crossings on the second full day of Vladimir Putin’s military mobilisation, with some men waiting over 24 hours as western leaders disagree over whether Europe should welcome those fleeing the call-up to fight in Ukraine.

The Russian president’s decision to announce the first mobilisation since the second world war has led to a rush among men of military age to leave the country, likely sparking a new, possibly unprecedented brain drain in the coming days and weeks.

Witnesses on the border with Georgia, a popular route used by Russians to leave the country, said that some men resorted to using bicycles and scooters to skip the miles-long queue of traffic jams.

The first prime minister of Vladimir Putin’s presidency believes his decree to partially mobilize the Russian population will ultimately lead to his ouster.

Mikhail Kasyanov told Newsweek that protests across the country would gather pace in the coming months because Putin’s decree will alienate him from those who had backed him until now.

Since the start of Putin’s full-scale invasion on February 24, the Kremlin had repeatedly assured the Russian population that its forces would only need professional troops to prevail. But now the conflict viewed on state television at home has taken on a new dynamic.

Growing protests against military mobilization in St Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg and many other Russian cities tonight.

Russians prefer watching the war on TV. Getting HIMARSed in person in Kherson isn’t attractive at all. pic.twitter.com/nmHbUad6wk

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) September 21, 2022

A cache of nearly 160,000 files from Russia’s powerful internet regulator provides a rare glimpse inside Vladimir V. Putin’s digital crackdown.

Four days into the war in Ukraine, Russia’s expansive surveillance and censorship apparatus was already hard at work.

Roughly 800 miles east of Moscow, authorities in the Republic of Bashkortostan, one of Russia’s 85 regions, were busy tabulating the mood of comments in social media messages. They marked down YouTube posts that they said criticized the Russian government.

Alexander, 33, found out about Vladimir Putin’s decision to order a partial mobilisation during an emotional call from his wife.

“Sasha, they can take you,” she told him shortly after he’d arrived at his office in downtown Moscow.

While Alexander had served in the army as a conscript nearly 15 years ago, he never saw combat. That puts him comparatively low in the mobilisation draft, Russia’s first since the second world war.

#Ukraine: Another Russian BMP-2 IFV was hit by Ukrainian drone-dropped munitions, penetrating the thin top armour.pic.twitter.com/6cGcJimxZ0

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 21, 2022

Blaming the West or NATO for this dreadful conflict is shameful.

Russia has now escalated its war of aggression in Ukraine.

In a scratchy, delayed speech delivered on Wednesday morning, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’, which will initially swell the ranks of Russia’s depleted infantry with 300,000 reservists. And, predictably, he waved his nuclear weapons at those who threaten ‘the territorial integrity of our Motherland’.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Large numbers of Russians rushed to book one-way tickets out of the country while they still could Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of military reservists for the war in Ukraine.

Flights filled up quickly and the prices of tickets for remaining connections sky-rocketed, apparently driven by fears that Russia’s borders could soon close or of a broader call-up that might send many Russian men of fighting age to the war’s front lines.

Vladimir Putin today issued a chilling new threat to use nuclear weapons against the West over Ukraine, warning world leaders: ‘I’m not bluffing’.

The desperate despot gave an address to the nation this morning in which he announced the mobilisation of 300,000 military reserves – a first in Russia since the Second World War – and referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine to make them part of Russia.

He then vowed to use ‘all means’ to defend the new territories, saying: ‘If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people – this is not a bluff.’

One of Russia’s most advanced tanks has been captured in near-perfect condition during advances by Ukrainian troops in the Kharkiv region.

The T-90M was found abandoned with one of the tracks missing. Although the Ukrainians have destroyed at least one of the battle tanks since the Russian invasion began nearly seven months ago, this is the first time one has been captured — providing the Kyiv government and Nato allies with a unique opportunity to examine the Kremlin’s most capable operational tank.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans Tuesday to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia. The concerted and quickening Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield.

The scheduling of referendums starting Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the votes are needed and as Moscow is losing ground in the invasion it began nearly seven months ago, increasing pressure on the Kremlin for a stiff response.

By all accounts except the Kremlin’s, Russia is struggling with military manpower shortages as its invasion of Ukraine continues in its seventh month. Western estimates say Russia may have suffered 25,000 combat fatalities and as many as 80,000 total casualties so far in fighting that has achieved none of the Kremlin’s stated objectives.

Moscow, though, has shied away from declaring war and mobilizing its full military reserves, most likely out of fear of the domestic political consequences that could arise from sending men from urban areas or the professional classes into combat. Instead, Russia has relied largely on contract soldiers recruited from remote and impoverished regions.

#Ukraine: The Ukrainian 128th Mountain Assault Brigade destroyed a Russian BMP IFV with artillery fire in #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/DwArkmnBhW

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 19, 2022

Ukrainian soldiers have broken through Russia’s frontline along the Oskil River, exposing an important supply route and swathes of territory that the Kremlin has promised to defend.

Fighting has focused on Kupiansk since Russian forces fled a surprise Ukrainian offensive around Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine last week but now military bloggers from both sides have said that Russia’s defence has crumbled once again.

“Kupiansk has surrendered. The enemy is on the left bank of the Oskil,” the pro-Russian military blogger Vladlen Tatarsky told his 450,000 subscribers last night.

#Ukraine: A Russian BMP-1P IFV was taken out by Ukrainian SSO (SOF) using drone-dropped munitions in #Zaporizhzhia Oblast. pic.twitter.com/uI6Q4Eoocg

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 18, 2022

The war has become impossible to ignore in Belgorod, southern Russia, just miles from the border with Ukraine. Russian soldiers retreating from the Ukrainian counterattack now roam the streets. Air defences boom out overhead several times a day. The city is once again filled with refugees. And, at the border, Russian and Ukrainian soldiers stand within sight of each other.

Three Russian soldiers from Ossetia are wandering the unfamiliar streets past the grand Transfiguration Cathedral late one evening. They seem unsteady on their feet, perhaps drunk or tired. And they’re looking for a place to eat.

#Ukraine: If you go for a walk in the woods in #Kharkiv– you might discover no less than four BTR-80 APC and a UR-77 mine clearing vehicle. pic.twitter.com/DGM4AphsLQ

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) September 18, 2022