First Since World War II: President Putin Orders Mobilization, Ready To Face The West With All Owned Forces

Illustration of the Russian military during the Victory Day parade. (Wikimedia Commons/The Presidential Press and Information Office 2)

JAKARTA - President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia's first mobilization since World War II on Wednesday, warning the West Moscow would respond with all its weapons, if they continued what it called a "nuclear beating."

A warning from Russia's supreme leader, whose country has more nuclear warheads than the United States, marks Ukraine's biggest war escalation since Moscow's invasion on February 24.

"If our country's territorial integrity is threatened, we use all available means to protect our people, this is not a empowerment," President Putin said in a televised address to the country.

President Putin accused the West of conspiring to destroy Russia, providing his explicit support for a referendum to be held in Ukrainian plots controlled by Russian forces, the first step towards the official annexation of some Ukraine the size of Hungary.

The war, which has sparked the worst confrontation with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, has killed tens of thousands and sent a wave of inflation that hit the global economy.

President Putin said he had signed a decree on partial mobilization. Mobilization, which affects anyone who has served as a professional soldier in Russia rather than military service, will begin soon.

Separately, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said he expected 300,000 people to be deployed.