President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of preparing to mobilize an additional 300,000 troops to the battle line in his country by the beginning of June.
Zelensky disclosed this during a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
He, however, said that it was unclear how many troops Ukraine plans to mobilize this year, but backtracked on his previous goals, saying, “we don’t need half a million.”
He said Kyiv “clearly” understands why Russia is looking to draft additional soldiers, and urged that the months of May and June “should be a time of activity for the sake of Ukraine, for the sake of achieving our goals in this war.”
“We clearly understand what Russia is preparing for, what they want, and what they will be drafting soldiers into their army for. Russia is preparing to mobilize 300,000 additional soldiers by June 1.
“And we, all of us, our partners, must have a strong response to Russian operations— any Russian operations. We must win this war,” he said.
This is coming a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a routine spring conscription campaign into action, which called up 150,000 citizens for military service.
Ukraine’s military intelligence also recently reported that Russia was likely aiming to ramp up its mobilization efforts following the country’s presidential election, in which Putin won over 87 percent of the vote.
The Kremlin has faced backlash from Russian citizens in the past over military recruitment efforts to bolster its defenses against Ukraine.
