Will Putin’s mobilisation change the course of the war?

On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin announced the partial mobilisation of his nation’s population after Russia suffered setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The Russian president said he was calling up 300,000 reservists in order to defend the country against a West that wanted to “weaken, divide and destroy Russia”. He also said the Kremlin was prepared to use nuclear weapons in response to this western threat.

Almost immediately, young Russian men started panic buying tickets out of their home country amid fears they would not be allowed to leave the country. One-way flights leaving Russia skyrocketed in price before selling out, while traffic jams have developed at border crossings as men flee to avoid conscription and war.

Meanwhile in Ukraine, emergency services continue to work to establish the cause of deaths of the hundreds of people whose bodies were discovered buried in a forest on the edge of the city of Izyum which was recently liberated by advancing Ukrainian forces.

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Ukraine is now racing to repair towns and villages shattered by six months of war and occupation as winter threatens their people with more misery and danger.

But are Ukrainian forces intimidated by this latest show of force from Russia? And how do the Russians, some of who have taken to the streets to protest this latest development, feel about Russia’s first military draft since the second World War.

Reporter Dan McLaughlin, who is covering the war in Ukraine for The Irish Times, joins the podcast to discuss Putin’s mobilisation, the threat of nuclear weapons and how Ukrainians caught under Russian occupation until recently are coping.

Today, on In the News, will Putin’s mobilisation change the course of the war?

In The News is presented by Sorcha Pollak and Conor Pope and produced by Declan Conlan, Suzanne Brennan and Aideen Finnegan.