Is Putin running out of options in Ukraine?
The worse the war goes for Russia, ‘the angrier its architect becomes’

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Until last week, Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine had been “almost completely invisible to most Muscovites”, said The Daily Telegraph. The once prominent “Z” signs – symbols of support for the invasion – had started to disappear in April; supermarket shelves were well stocked; restaurants were full.
Even as Russian troops in Kharkiv were being forced into retreat in mid-September, Putin put on a show of normality by attending the opening of a Ferris wheel. But last Wednesday the illusion came crashing down, when he gave a speech in which he threatened to use “all the means at our disposal” to defend Russia’s territorial integrity – and announced the nation’s first mobilisation since the Second World War.
For the millions of Russians who had been either indifferent to it or pretending to be, the conflict suddenly became “urgent and personal”. Putin and his defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, went to some lengths to stress that it was a “partial mobilisation”, and that only people with recent combat experience would be drafted – around 300,000 in total. But there were reports of men in their 50s getting their call-up papers, and many Russians were convinced that a far wider mobilisation was on the cards.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Within minutes of Putin’s speech, men were scrambling to avoid the draft, said Pjotr Sauer in The Guardian. Flights to “no visa” destinations sold out; there were reports of cars streaming across the borders into Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland; and on the Russian search engine Yandex, searches for “how to break your arm” rocketed.
Mobilisation has ‘breached unspoken pact’
The mobilisation has breached the unspoken pact that Putin had made with the Russian people, said The Washington Post: you stay out of politics, and turn a blind eye to our corruption, and we won’t interfere in your daily lives. And in towns and cities across the country, the people have been showing their anger: around 2,000 people have been arrested in protests against the draft; there have been arson attacks on recruitment offices in at least 16 regions; and in Irkutsk this week, a young man shot a recruitment officer. Russians are “snapping out” of their torpor, and making it clear that they don’t want to be cannon fodder in Putin’s war.
Belligerent as it was, Putin’s speech was the bluster of a politician who is feeling the pressure, said The Times. He isn’t only coming under attack from anti-war protesters – he has also been facing public criticism and even mockery from Russian nationalists, who have been enraged by the rout in Kharkiv. The military elite has long been calling for full mobilisation.
But drafting reservists, to bolster Russia’s depleted and morale-sapped forces, undermines two of the “conceits” that Moscow has relied on to keep the public onside, said the FT: that the war is a “special military operation” to “liberate” Ukraine, and that it is going to plan. It’s not even as if the call-up will achieve much in the short term. It will take months to get the reservists battle-ready, not least because so many instructors are already at the front.
Unlikely to compensate for losses
In any case, bringing in reluctant conscripts is unlikely to compensate for Russia’s staggering losses, said Edward Lucas in The Times. Since February, around 80,000 soldiers from an initial invading force of 120,000 have been killed, wounded or captured; in a single week of fighting near Kharkiv this month, the Russians lost 100 tanks. The Ukrainians, by contrast, are not only making good use of captured Russian hardware; thanks to the “extraordinary logistical capabilities of the US military”, their front-line troops can rely on a stream of new weapons and ammunition, and every week, “hundreds of soldiers arrive from Western-led training”.
The worse the war goes for Russia, “the angrier its architect becomes”, but he has few options, and none are good. His nominal allies, in China and India, have made no secret of their concern about his actions; he can’t risk attacking Nato states; and any use of nuclear weapons would be politically “suicidal”. His only real hope is that in the hard winter ahead, Western will crumbles.
Sham referendums part of plan B
The sham referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories are part of this plan B, said Alexander Gabuev in the FT. Putin reckons that by declaring them part of Russia, while also threatening to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia’s territorial integrity, he can scare EU and US leaders into reining in their support for Ukraine and lobbying Kyiv to abort its counter-offensive. The plan, however, is flawed, because Kyiv will not give up the fight.
And for Putin, it creates another self-made trap, said Mark Galeotti in The Times. If Russian troops are forced to retreat from these territories, he can’t spin it as a “regrouping”: he will have to escalate the conflict further to regain them, or “be the leader who surrendered ‘Russian soil’”.
Putin is backed into a corner, said Kim Sengupta on The Independent. He is lashing out, and another layer of uncertainty has been added to an already perilous situation.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
A reckoning over looted art
The Explainer Thousands of artifacts in U.S. and European collections were stolen from their countries of origin. Should they be sent back?
By The Week Staff Published
-
A surge in surge pricing
Feature And more of the week's best financial insight
By The Week Staff Published
-
Rupert Murdoch steps aside at the empire he built
Feature The last of the old-style 'press barons' has retired. What is he leaving behind?
By The Week Staff Published
-
Is Ukraine losing the support of Eastern Europe?
Today's big question Grain dispute between Warsaw and Kyiv could lead to other dominos falling
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Russian pilot 'tried to shoot down RAF plane'
Speed Read 'Ambiguous' communications triggered the potentially deadly incident in 2022, defence sources say
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Inside the luxury bulletproof train taking Kim Jong Un to Russia
The Explainer The North Korean leader has continued the tradition of train travel established by his father
By Rebekah Evans Published
-
Yevgeny Prigozhin: will ‘predictable’ death of Wagner chief backfire on Putin?
Today's Big Question Analysts say Russian president faces growing danger from advisers and risk of revenge from Wagner fighters
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
Is Belarus the next serious threat to the West?
Today's Big Question President Lukashenko is tightening ties with Russia and China while ‘escalating tensions with Nato’
By Chas Newkey-Burden Published
-
How much is the Russia-Ukraine war costing?
In Depth Kyiv faces $400 billion rebuilding bill and military spending could soon catch up with Russia’s economy
By Richard Windsor Published
-
Why Putin is weaponising grain in the war with Ukraine
Under the Radar Russian president’s use of food as a strategic weapon could prove brutally effective
By The Week Staff Published
-
Ukraine war: who is winning?
feature Kyiv reports some counter-offensive success but progress remains slow
By Sorcha Bradley Published