President Putin Says Russia Can Have Long-Term War in Ukraine, But Calls Additional Mass Mobilization Unreasonable

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Wikimedia Commons/The Presidential Press and Information Office)

JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday his troops could fight in Ukraine for the long haul, but he saw no sense in expanding the call-up of 300.000 reserves from September and October, after serious Russian battlefield setbacks.

Earlier, Russia's ally Belarus said it was moving troops and military hardware to counter what it called a terrorism threat, amid signs Moscow may be pressuring Minsk to open a new front in Ukraine.

President Putin rarely talks about the possible duration of the war, as Russia has been forced into a series of significant setbacks in the face of a Ukrainian counterattack, carried out with increasing stockpiles of Western weapons, in the east and south since July.

Russia launched what it called a "special military operation" in February, saying Ukraine's deepening ties with the West posed a security threat.

Meanwhile, Kyiv and its allies say the invasion amounted to land grabs by the imperialists.

"Regarding the duration of the special military operation, of course, it can be a long process," Putin told a televised meeting of the Human Rights Council, where the Ukraine war was the focus.

He said there was no reason for a second military mobilization at this point, following the fall's mass call-up.

About 150.000 of the 300.000 reservists are deployed in Ukraine, 77.000 in combat units, he said. The remaining 150.000 are still in training centers.

"In these conditions, it makes no sense to talk about additional mobilization measures," said President Putin.

Russia, he said, would "defend itself by all means at our disposal", asserting that Russia was seen in the West as a "second-class country that has no right to exist at all".

President Putin further said the risk of nuclear war was increasing, but Russia would not threaten to recklessly use such weapons.

Despite recent retreats on the battlefield, including the Russian-occupied loss of Kherson, Ukraine's only provincial capital, President Putin says he has no regrets about launching Europe's most devastating war since World War Two.

He said Russia had achieved "significant results" with the acquisition of "new territories" - a reference to September's annexation of four partially occupied territories - which Kyiv and most members of the United Nations condemned as illegal.