In a national address on Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin says Russia will be mobilising further troops for the war in Ukraine. He claims the west is using the threat of nuclear weapons to blackmail Russia, and that ‚those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them‘.

Putin also said Russia would give its full support to the referendums announced for this weekend in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation