Mobilization shows weakness, Zelenskyy says

European countries divided over whether to accept Russians fleeing military call-up

Russia’s rush to mobilize hundreds of thousands of recruits to staunch stinging losses in Ukraine is a tacit acknowledgment that its “army is not able to fight,” Ukraine’s president said Sunday, as splits sharpened in Europe over whether to welcome or turn away Russians fleeing the call-up.

Speaking to U.S. broadcaster CBS, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said he’s bracing for more Russian strikes on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, as the Kremlin seeks to ramp up the pressure on Ukraine and its Western backers as the weather gets colder. Zelenskyy warned that this winter “will be very difficult.”

“They will shoot missiles, and they will target our electric grid. This is a challenge, but we are not afraid of that.” he said on “Face the Nation.”

He portrayed the Russian mobilization — its first such call-up since the Second World War — as a signal of weakness, not strength, saying: “They admitted that their army is not able to fight with Ukraine anymore.”

Zelenskyy also said Ukraine has received NASAMS air defence systems from the U.S. NASAMS uses surface-to-air missiles to track and shoot down incoming missiles or aircraft. Zelenskyy did not say how many Ukraine received.

Although the European Union is now largely off limits to most Russians, with direct flights stopped and its land borders increasingly closed to them, an exodus of Russian men fleeing military service is creating divisions among European officials over whether they should be granted safe haven.

The partial mobilization is also triggering protests in Russia, with new anti-war demonstrations on Sunday.

In Dagestan, one of Russia’s poorer regions in the North Caucasus, police fired warning shots to try to disperse more than 100 people who blocked a highway while protesting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military call-up, Russian media reported.

Dozens of women chanted “No to war!” in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala on Sunday. Videos of the protests showed women in head scarves chasing police away from the rally and standing in front of police cars carrying detained protesters, demanding their release.

Women also protested in the Siberian city of Yakutsk, chanting “No to genocide!” and marching in a circle around police, who later dragged some away or forced them into police vans, according to videos shared by Russian media.

At least 2,000 people have been arrested in recent days for similar demonstrations around Russia. Many of those taken away have immediately received a call-up summons.

Unconfirmed Russian media reports that the Kremlin might soon close Russian borders to men of fighting age are fuelling panic and prompting more to flee.

German officials have voiced a desire to help Russian men deserting military service and have called for a European-wide solution.

In France, senators are arguing that Europe has a duty to help and warned that not granting refuge to fleeing Russians could play into Putin’s hands, feeding his narrative of Western hostility to Russia.

Yet other EU countries are adamant that asylum shouldn’t be offered. Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, tweeted: “Russians should stay and fight. Against Putin.”

Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said the exodus poses “considerable security risks” for the 27-nation bloc and that those fleeing now can’t be considered conscientious objectors since they did not act when Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

“They will shoot missiles, and they will target our electric grid. This is a challenge, but we are not afraid of that.

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY