Scott Ritter – "I believe we are looking at the physical destruction of the Ukrainian nation as the endgame for this conflict" – Flopping Aces

Some initial thoughts on Russia’s partial mobilization:

First and foremost, this represents a new phase in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, namely the fact that Russia is fighting the NATO alliance as opposed to just Ukraine.

To respond to this threat, Russia is creating a new reality of its own, namely to transition from a fight that had Russia working with allies and operating on foreign soil, to Russia defending the motherland. The partial mobilization is being conducted in parallel with political referendums that will see the Donbas and other Ukrainian territory be absorbed into the Russian federation.

This absorption will fundamentally alter the legal foundations of the conflict. While the referendums currently being considered only impact lands under current Russian occupation, Putin spoke of the need to free all of “Novo Rossiya” from the yoke of Ukrainian tyranny.

I believe the absorption of Ukrainian territory will be expanded at some point to include Odessa and Kharkov.