President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia accelerated his war effort in Ukraine on Wednesday, announcing a new mobilization campaign that would mean calling up roughly 300,000 additional soldiers at a time when his troops have suffered humiliating losses on the battlefield.
In a rare videotaped address to the nation, Mr. Putin stopped short of declaring a full, national draft but instead called for a “partial mobilization” of people with military experience. He said that Russia’s goals in Ukraine had not changed and that the move was “necessary and urgent” because the West had “crossed all lines” by providing sophisticated weapons to Ukraine.
The speech was an apparent attempt to reassert his authority over an increasingly chaotic war that has undermined his leadership both at home and on the global stage. It was also a way of acknowledging those in Russia who support the war but have criticized the Kremlin for not devoting the resources and personnel necessary to wage an all-out fight.
In a subsequent speech, Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, put the number of new call-ups at 300,000 people, all of them with some military experience. He said that students would not be called up to fight and that conscripts would not be sent to the “special operation zone,” the way the Kremlin refers to the war.
Mr. Putin’s 20-minute speech aired as world leaders are convening in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where many have decried Russia’s invasion. He responded on Wednesday by railing against the West, saying it had “crossed all lines” by providing weapons systems that enable Ukraine to strike Russian territory, and insisting that the West’s goal is to “weaken, divide and eventually destroy” Russia.
He accused the United States and Europe of engaging in “nuclear blackmail” but warned that Russia has “lots of weapons” in response.
“To those who allow themselves such statements about Russia, I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and some components are more modern than those of the NATO countries,” he said. “And if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff.”
Mr. Putin said his key war aim — “liberating” Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region — remained unchanged and announced his support for referendums hastily announced on Tuesday that would see occupied Ukrainian territory become part of Russia.
“Russia can’t give up on people living close by to be torn apart by executioners and fail to respond to their desire to determine their own fate,” he said, referring to Ukrainians in occupied territory.
On Tuesday, Moscow pressed to consolidate its hold over Ukrainian territory in the east and south, abruptly moving to stage referendums for occupied parts of Ukraine to formally join Russia.
Russian proxy officials in four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizka in the south — announced plans to hold referendums over four days beginning on Friday. Russia controls nearly all of two of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson, but only a fraction of the other two, Zaporizka and Donetsk.
The scheduling of the votes, which appeared to be coordinated, followed swift advances by Ukrainian forces, who routed Russians from the northeast in recent weeks and are on the offensive in the east and south. Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops, is struggling to recruit new soldiers and is facing a growing backlash, even from some allies, over its prolonged and bloody invasion.
While Mr. Putin has tried to maintain a sense of normalcy in the country since the invasion, Ukraine’s recent successes have made it increasingly difficult to do so, and his latest announcement appeared to part of an effort by the Kremlin to show that it is taking charge of the situation. Mr. Shoigu asserted that 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting in Ukraine, the first information about Russian troop casualties since March. Western estimates put the Russian casualties in the tens of thousands.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who was expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, said in his nightly address before Mr. Putin’s speech aired that whatever steps the Russian leader announced — and whatever “sham” vote is staged in occupied parts of Ukraine — his military would continue to fight to drive Russian forces from the country.
“We enjoy the full support of our partners in this,” Mr. Zelensky said. “So let’s maintain the pressure. Let’s preserve unity. Let’s defend Ukraine. We are liberating our land. And we are not showing any signs of weakness.”
The referendums, analysts say, would be a prelude to annexation of the territories by Russia — at which point Moscow could declare that it would treat any further attacks on those regions as an attack on Russia itself, and threaten nuclear retaliation.
U.S. officials have warned for months that Mr. Putin could use sham referendums in occupied areas — which many residents have fled amid fierce fighting — to try to legitimize the illegal annexation of parts of Ukraine.
