Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning to recruit 500,000 fresh troops for the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said. The claim could not be independently verified.
Citing information from Ukrainian intelligence, Zelensky said the huge recruitment drive could begin right after Russia’s Duma, or parliamentary, elections in late September.
In a recent interview, President Zelensky said Putin was in no way inclined to stop the war and, out of fear over his country’s ordinary people, would not carry out the mobilisation “openly.”
According to the Ukrainian leader, it is not possible for Russia to train such a large number of people quickly and all at once, which would increase the number of inadequately trained soldiers at the front — with the direct effect of raising the risk of heavy Russian casualties.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has voiced concern that the war could take a more dangerous turn as Ukrainian forces press attacks deep inside Russia. He warned that when a war spreads from the front line towards the rear or into civilian areas, the question for a country becomes its survival as a nation, rather than victory or defeat.
In such a situation, he said, Putin might think of his last resort — the use of nuclear weapons. Speaking on the Editors’ Desk programme of the Turkish outlet Anadolu, Fidan described the situation as extremely dangerous and said it had also been discussed with Western allies.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report