Ukrainian minister warns Russians against renewed mobilization Two years of Brexit: Scottish minister sees no benefits

At the beginning of this year, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov warned in a video in Russian of a new mobilization by the Kremlin. “I’m sure you still have a week to make a choice,” Resnikov said in the video published on YouTube. Then the borders would close so that no one can leave the country. There is a choice between evading military service or dying in Ukraine or becoming “crippled”.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country last fall to avoid the partial mobilization ordered by Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin. Putin recently said that no new mobilization was needed.

The New Year celebrations are a good opportunity to reflect and realize that the Kremlin lost the war, Resnikov said. There is nothing worth fighting for.

In his New Year’s speech, the minister listed the number of Russian defeats this year. For example, he mentioned the sinking of the flagship “Moskva” of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and the explosions at military airfields in the Russian hinterland.

Russia has already lost more than 100,000 soldiers in this war, Resnikov said. “If that was the plan, only Russia’s enemies could have come up with it this way,” he said, also referring to Moscow’s loss of reputation in the world.

The minister accused the Moscow leadership of constantly planning new waves of mobilization in order not to admit defeat in Ukraine, to stay in power and not to take responsibility for the many war crimes. Reznikov said that he spoke not only as a minister, but also as a lawyer. “The longer the war lasts, the more serious the consequences will be for ordinary people, for ordinary Russians,” he said. Generations in Russia should pay for the damage done. But Ukraine is not giving up. “We defend our Earth.” (sda/dpa)