Russia to incorporate seized lands into command structure as forced mobilization looms – officer

Russia is about to include the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation, which indicates preparation for mass mobilization in these areas, reserve colonel, ex-speaker of the General Staff Vladyslav Seleznyov told LIGA.net.

They already have experience in the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, where locals were taken en masse to the occupation army and sent to storm the positions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has already announced that by the end of 2024 it wants to create two military districts – Moscow and Leningrad, to form a combined military and air army, five divisions and 26 brigades.

"They will be formed primarily from Ukrainian citizens. To gather such a number of people, a draconian mobilization process will be carried out," the officer said.

Vladimir Putin will definitely not conduct mass mobilization in Moscow or St. Petersburg, Seleznyov stressed.

"Recruiting people from the occupied territories will mean significantly fewer problems for him," he concluded.

Deputy Minister of Defense Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk said that Vladimir Putin will intensify attacks on the front after the "elections" in Russia, and will also conduct a new wave of mobilization.

After the sham elections, Russia can conduct mobilization "more openly", Ukrainian intelligence also said.

Recently, a LIGA.net source in the Defense Forces said that Moscow really wants to mobilize more than 400,000 people, but today the implementation of these plans is slowing down due to political and organizational reasons and the aggressor is failing.