Russia Mobilizing Disabled Locals to Fight in Failing Donetsk Campaign—Kyiv

Russia has mobilized disabled people in the Ukrainian territories it occupies, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In an update on Tuesday, Ukraine's forces said that Russia had recruited residents in the town of Horlivka in the Donetsk oblast and that among the 30 people it drafted, four had disabilities.

"After two days of so-called training at the Vostochny training ground, they were sent to a military unit of the Russian occupation forces," the update, which was reported by Ukrainian media, said.

The update comes as Ukraine warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to mobilize up to half a million new troops ahead of a new offensive. This would be much more than the partial mobilization that Putin announced in September aimed at boosting Russian forces by 300,000.

That mobilization was described as botched by military bloggers as anecdotes of Russian citizens who were too old or young being drafted made their way onto state media outlets.

Andriy Chernyak, a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman, told German news outlet T-Online that the mobilization drive will be announced on January 15, impacting those in Moscow and St. Petersburg the most.

Kyiv previously warned that Russia was planning an earlier mobilization drive, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov saying in a New Year's Eve message in Russian that January 5 was a possible date on which the draft would be announced.

Putin called for a 36-hour ceasefire over Orthodox Christmas which was dismissed by Kyiv as a ploy to allow Russian forces to regroup. Hostilities continued over the holiday period.

Ukraine has revised the mobilization date. Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine's deputy military intelligence chief, told The Guardian that Russian conscripts would be part of Moscow offensives over the spring and summer in the east and south, such as in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and possibly Zaporizhzhia.

Skibitsky said that Moscow was "putting their emphasis on numbers of men and equipment and hoping to overwhelm our side," although Russia would need around two months to put together the military formations.

Meanwhile, Igor Girkin, a former Russian intelligence officer who has been critical of Moscow's commanders and has called for Russia to be put on a full war footing, has predicted that there would be a new mobilization drive but that it would not start until the end of February.

However, Russia has denied it was readying itself for another draft with Putin saying in December such a move would be "pointless" as only half of those mobilized had been sent to Ukraine.

Retired Russian colonel general and Duma deputy Andrey Gurulyov also dismissed reports of a new draft. "Not everyone who was mobilized earlier has been sent to the battle," he told Russian media.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry for comment.