Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday urged the Russians to stand up against the mobilization announced by the Kremlin faced with the refusal to fight in Ukraine by part of its population fleeing the country.
Under the fire of international criticism, Russia also found itself in the dock in the Security Council, called to account for its invasion of Ukraine, the day after its announcement of the immediate mobilization of 300,000 reservists, accompanied by threats to use nuclear weapons made by Vladimir Putin.
“55,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in this war in six months (…) Do you want more?
Nope ?
So protest!
Fight!
Run away !
Or go” to the Ukrainian army, he launched in Russian in his traditional video address.
"These are your options to survive."
“You are already complicit in all the crimes (of the Russian army), murders and tortures of which the Ukrainians are victims.
Because you are silent.
Because you are always silent,” accused Volodymyr Zelensky.
And to affirm that the Russian authorities are preparing to mobilize “up to a million men”.
VIDEO.
Ukraine: 270 prisoners exchanged with Russia, including Azovstal fighters
On the diplomatic front, it was US Secretary of State Antony Blinken who led the charge at the Security Council, refusing to meet his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
"We can't let President Putin get away with it," he said at the meeting convened by the French presidency.
Serguei Lavrov, present in the Council room where he also delivered a speech, had not been seated at the same table as the other ministers, being replaced by a deputy.
"He does not want to hear," said Briton James Cleverly.
Antony Blinken took the opportunity to denounce the recent escalation, including the holding of annexation referendums in Ukrainian territories under Russian control.
"That President Putin has chosen this week, when most of the world's leaders are meeting at the UN, to add fuel to the fire he has lit demonstrates his utter disregard for the UN Charter. ", he said.
Read also Demonstrations, warnings from his supporters, European sanctions ... The beginning of the end for Putin?
In Russia, the announcement of the mobilization caused an influx of Russians wishing to leave the country, without any figures being available.
Finnish border guards said they observed an increase in crossings, which remains however moderate.
Russians need visas to get there.
While Poland and the Baltic countries have taken measures in recent weeks to drastically restrict the entry of Russians into their territory, Germany said on Thursday that it was ready to welcome deserters from the Russian army "threatened with serious repression ".
The day before, more than 1,300 people had been arrested during improvised anti-mobilization demonstrations across Russia, according to the NGO OVD-Info.
The Kremlin has denied the scale of the departures, a phenomenon "greatly exaggerated".
