Putin: 50,000 mobilized Russian troops serving with combat units in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin says 50,000 servicemen of mobilized Russian troops are now serving with the combat units in Ukraine, nearly nine months after Russia began a military operation in the ex-Soviet republic.

During a visit to the Tver region, outside the capital Moscow, on Monday, the Russian leader said that currently 80,000 Russian forces were "in the zone of the special military operation" in Ukraine and that the rest of the roughly 320,000 draftees were at training camps in Russia.

Moscow commenced what it called a "special military operation" in neighboring Ukraine on February 24, with the declared aim of “de-Nazifying” the country. Since the onset of the operation, the United States and its European allies have imposed waves of economic sanctions against Moscow while supplying large consignments of heavy weaponry to Kiev over Russian objections.

"We now have 50,000 in their combat units. The rest are not taking part in the fighting yet," Putin added on Monday, as quoted by Interfax, some two months after he announced a "partial mobilization" drive to call up hundreds of thousands of new fighters for the war.

The decision to partially mobilize is “fully adequate to the threats we face, namely to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories,” Putin said in September.

Last week, the Russian president announced that a total of 318,000 had been called-up in the draft.

Late last month, Moscow suspended the partial mobilization of Russians, with its Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu saying that some 41,000 Russian fighters had already joined their combat units fighting in Ukraine.

Russian president announces partial military mobilization: Report

Russia

Ukraine invokes wartime laws to seize stakes in strategic firms

Separately on Monday, Kiev said it had invoked wartime laws to take control of stakes in a top engine-maker and four other strategic companies from some of Ukraine's richest people, Reuters cited three top Ukrainian officials as saying. It is the first time Kiev has used martial law for such a move since Russia's operation.

According to unnamed officials, the decision was made at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday and went into force on Sunday.

The companies included engine maker Motor Sich, energy companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, vehicle maker AvtoKrAZ and transformer maker Zaporizhtransformator.

"Such steps, which are necessary for our country in conditions of war, are carried out in accordance with current laws and will help meet the urgent needs of our defense sector," Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "In these difficult times, we must direct all our forces to liberate our land and people, support the Ukrainian army."

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