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"It is now necessary to announce a general mobilization, to include at full speed the production of all kinds of ammunition, weapons and everything that is needed," Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of Wagner PMCs, told reporters in Yekaterinburg. According to the Moscow oligarch considered close to Vladimir Putin, the continuation of the so-called special military operation, as the Kremlin calls the war in Ukraine, could be difficult.

"Already now it is necessary to announce mobilization and attract people at least for training, so that when lightning strikes, they can already fight, not be baptized. If society is not mobilized, everyone will relax, will be glad that they have been loosened, someone will quickly hide. And then the evil guys will come, I have already said that the Ukrainians are not all. Then the Romanians, the Poles and all sorts of others will come," Prigozhin said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin declared the start of the undeclared official war in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, when he said the purpose of the special military operation was "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine, a formulation that Moscow hoped the world would swallow after Moscow conquered Kiev in three days.

Kiev: Russia weakens offensive against Bakhmut to regroup forces

After the takeover of Ukraine dragged on, between October 21 and 28, Russia carried out a partial mobilization, forcing men of fighting age to flee abroad to avoid cannon fodder in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry announced that as a result of the partial mobilization, 300,<> people were called into the army, and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that after the implementation of the partial mobilization plan, military districts will continue to recruit volunteers and candidates for contract service.

Prigozhin arrived in Yekaterinburg to recruit volunteers for his private formation, which after the authorities stopped supplying prisoners, had difficulty recruiting personnel. On Wednesday, Politico reported that Wagner, without naming the company, had been recruiting fighters with paid Facebook ads for nearly a year. 120,<> reactions to the announcements.

Now Putin's Cook is calling for official mobilization in the country, insisting that no special infrastructure is needed to start preparing the mobilized.

"In those parts of Russia, in those territories where Ukrainian missiles are lacking, those mobilized for training need tent camps, dugouts, blinds, food, water, a place to wash clothes and normal instructors. Then we will have a sufficient number mobilized," said Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Putin's private commander said Ukraine has been conducting counter-offensive operations for two weeks to find vulnerabilities in Russian defense. He ruled out the possibility of Ukrainian drones reaching the Urals. Earlier, General Viktor Sobolev, deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, said that universal mobilization in Russia can begin if hostilities go beyond the territory of Ukraine.

Mobilization in Russia

Yevgeny Prigozhin