In initial thoughts posted on his Telegram channel this morning, former weapons inspector Scott Ritter says that the “partial mobilization” ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin “represents a new phase in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, namely the fact that Russia is fighting the NATO alliance as opposed to just Ukraine. To respond to this threat, Russia is creating a new reality of its own, namely to transition from a fight that had Russia working with allies and operating on foreign soil, to Russia defending the motherland.”
The absorption of the four regions, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson, “will fundamentally alter the legal foundations of the conflict. While the referendums currently being considered only impact lands under current Russian occupation, Putin spoke of the need to free all of ‘Novo Rossiya’ from the yoke of Ukrainian tyranny,” Ritter continues. “I believe the absorption of Ukrainian territory will be expanded at some point to include Odessa and Kharkov.
