Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a partial military mobilization in Russia. In a rare televised announcement, Putin said the West “wants to destroy our country” and claimed the West had tried to “turn Ukraine’s people into cannon fodder”. Putin said “mobilization events” would begin Wednesday without providing many further details, IPN reports.

“We are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience,” Putin said. He added that those called up for military service - 300,000 reservists initially - will also undergo additional military training.

Putin said the decision to partially mobilize was “fully adequate to the threats we face, namely to protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, to ensure the security of our people and people in the liberated territories.”

Putin accused the West in engaging in “nuclear blackmail” and noted that Russia also has various means of destruction.

The Russian leader said his aim was to “liberate” east Ukraine’s Donbas region, claiming without providing any proof that most people in the region did not want to return to what he called the “yoke” of Ukraine.

On Tuesday, Russia’s proxy states in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR), declared they would imminently hold referendums on being recognized as part of Russia.