Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of the Russian military’s reserve forces during a televised address at approximately 0900 local time (0600 UTC) on 21 September 2022. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, 300,000 reservists will be called upon to bolster Russia’s military strength in the ongoing war in Ukraine. Putin’s announcement follows a declaration by Russian proxy forces in the occupied eastern Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that they will hold referendums from 23-27 September regarding annexation into the Russian Federation. The referendums, which will likely result in approval of annexation due to their staged nature, would represent the secession of approximately 15% of Ukrainian territory, though the votes will have little international recognition.