Vladimir Putin’s situation looks ever more desperate

plan to declare a formal war on Ukraine and mobilise its reserves fully? “At the moment, no,” insisted Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s slippery spokesman, on September 13th, days after in Kharkiv province. “There is no discussion of this.” Yet in a televised address to the nation barely a week later Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, declared a partial mobilisation of Russians with military experience. Sergei Shoigu, his defence minister, said the order, which took effect immediately, would extend to 300,000 reservists.