More troops, more annexations: Putin announces new Ukraine plans
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been hearing for months from a chorus of Russian nationalist hawks that the country’s 200,000-strong expeditionary force in Ukraine is too small to achieve victory. That complaint only grew louder after the Ukrainian army’s swift and decisive recapture of its northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month.
In an early morning speech Wednesday, Mr. Putin largely took the hawks’ side.
He announced Russia will mobilize a much bigger army of intervention, it will sponsor the immediate Crimea-like annexation of four Ukrainian territories, and might adopt much more destructive military tactics than previously employed. prioritizes access to resources for Russian defense industries and calls up some 300,000 Russian reservists to active duty. Mr. Putin, while certainly no
