Vladimir Putin’s newest escalation in Ukraine isn’t any present of power. The army mobilization he introduced on Wednesday, together with new nuclear threats, could mollify his hard-line critics in Russia for some time. However this gained’t deter Ukraine from persevering with its army offensive, and it shouldn’t deter the West from accelerating its army assist to Kyiv’s forces.
Mr. Putin introduced what he known as a “partial mobilization” that may very well be as much as 300,000 reservists, which sounds spectacular. However the call-up is an admission that the Kremlin’s marketing campaign in Ukraine is failing and that its present forces are exhausted and insufficient.