The Moscow Prosecutor's Office has said that participation in protests and unsanctioned "mass events" is a punishable offense which can result "imprisonment for up to 15 years".

It shared the message on Telegram as an apparent warning to people considering taking to the streets this evening to protest the government's decision to draft reservists to fight in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, various Telegram channels are reporting, external that protests against mobiliation are kicking off in the Far East of Russia. Ten people are thought to have already been detained in Irkutsk.

Russia has cracked down on protests in recent months. Independent human rights media project OVD-info estimates that 16,437 people have been detained since the start of the war in Ukraine on 24 February.

The Russian government says it will announce "very soon" who will be exempt from its partial mobilisation.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the government would shortly decide which citizens would be allowed to defer a call-up.

Earlier, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said only soldiers with military experience will be called up - although it is not clear what that means and who that refers to. He said students would be exempt.

Peskov was also asked whether Russia would close its borders to prevent evasion by those who are eligible for call-up. "I can't answer that question... there are provisions for this in the current laws," he said.

Mobilisation unlikely to have immediate impact on warpublished at 13:29 British Summer Time 21 September 2022

13:29 BST 21 September 2022

Jonathan Beale
BBC defence correspondent

Image source, Reuters

President Putin’s partial mobilisation of Russian reservists is unlikely to have an immediate impact on the ground war in Ukraine.

Justin Bronk, a defence analyst at RUSI, say it could take up to six months to train and mobilise the new soldiers – even though President Putin is looking to call on reservists who already have some military experience.

He also says that many of the Russian officers and non-commissioned officers who’ll be required to train them are already tied up in the fighting in Ukraine or have been killed in battle.

They’ll be joining or replacing Russian units which have already suffered heavy losses both in terms of personnel and equipment. To be an effective fighting force they’ll need more than rifles. The one area where they might make a difference over the longer term is with logistics – driving lorries, and fuel to the front line –freeing up other regular troops to fight.

The partial mobilisation also won't help with some of the other challenges facing President Putin – including dwindling supplies of long-range precision missiles and an air force which has failed to gain control of the skies. It’s also hard to see how conscripting troops will address the low morale of Russian forces - it could make it worse.

Image source, Getty Images

Putin's address has raised fears that some men of fighting age would not be allowed to leave Russia, even though the country's defence minister said the call-up would be limited to those with combat experience.

Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia - both destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa - have sold out for today, although of course it's impossible to know when the flights were bought.

Even most routes with stopovers, including those from Moscow to Tbilisi in Georgia, were also unavailable, while the cheapest flights from the capital to Dubai were costing more than 300,000 roubles (£4,360; $4,945) - about five times the average Russian's monthly wage.

Google Trends data showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, which is Russia's most popular website for purchasing flights, according to Reuters news agency.

Hugo Bachega
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

President Putin’s announcement shows that Russian forces are failing on the ground, a senior adviser to President Zelensky has told the BBC.

Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin's speech was a direct reaction to criticism of the Russian military’s performance in Ukraine, after its recent defeats in the north-east.

“[Putin’s announcement] is certainly evidence that Russia has completely failed the first stage - in understanding how to fight," he told me.

The mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of reservists, he claimed, would "accelerate the catastrophe of the political elite that today controls Russia”.

Podolyak also decried the other big announcement from Moscow in recent days - planned referendums in Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine to vote on joining Russia.

He said:

In his address, President Putin some in the West were engaging in "nuclear blackmail".

He said Moscow would use all available means to protect its territory - and had "lots of weapons to reply".

According to thinktank the Federation of American Scientists, Russia has 5,977 nuclear warheads - the devices that trigger a nuclear explosion - though this includes about 1,500 that are retired and set to be dismantled.

Of the remaining 4,500 or so, most are considered strategic nuclear weapons - ballistic missiles, or rockets, which can be targeted over long distances. These are the weapons usually associated with nuclear war.

You can read more on Russia's nuclear weapons here.

Image source, Reuters

The European Union's support for Ukraine isn't going anywhere, the president of the council representing the bloc's 27 member states has said.

Charles Michel wrote on Twitter: "In this war, there is only one aggressor, Russia, and one aggressed country, Ukraine."

He added: "EU's support to Ukraine will remain steadfast."

He was writing from New York - where this week's UN General Assembly meetings are taking place.

We'll have more from that later, with US President Joe Biden, UK PM Liz Truss and Ukraine's President Zelensky all due to speak.

If you're just joining us, this is what has been happening today:

• President Putin gave a televised address saying military reservists are to be sent to Ukraine as part of a partial mobilisation of Russian forces
• His minister of defence, Sergey Shoigu, later said 300,000 reservists will be mobilised
• Putin accused the West of wanting to see Russia weakened and said a threat to retaliate further "is not a bluff"
• Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny said the move will lead to "massive tragedy and a massive amount of deaths"

• Meanwhile, Western nations have condemned Moscow's plans to hold so-called referendums in parts of Ukraine that are currently under Russian control. The votes will be held over the next few days
• The US, Germany and France have said they would never recognise the results of such "sham" ballots

Sarah Rainsford
BBC Eastern Europe Correspondent

Looking at Vladimir Putin’s actual order for a partial mobilisation, Russian commentators have begun casting serious doubts on the promises of the president and his defence minister that the call-up will be limited.

They point out that the actual decree signed is very vague. It says nothing about any cap on numbers or about any exceptions, like not recruiting students or conscripts.

It's left to regional heads to decide who to call, to meet quotas. In theory, and in practice, the net could be cast far wider than Putin and Shoigu have said.

That’s a worry for Russians, suddenly being confronted with the reality of a conflict some support and many others have chosen to pay little attention to - getting on with life as if the invasion is not happening.

The Kremlin has been keen to limit its impact too, not to test public support for its campaign too deeply - especially in big cities like Moscow and St Petersburg, where the protest mood is traditionally stronger.

Now that unspoken deal is undone. Russians can’t ignore the war any longer. It could very easily affect them directly - and many more than Putin currently claims.

Image source, Rex Features

Image source, Getty Images

The mayor of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, has reacted to Vladimir Putin's address earlier.

In a post on Telegram, external, Klitschko said: "The mobilisation and nuclear threats announced by Putin will not help the aggressor in his quest to conquer and destroy Ukraine and Ukrainians.

"The tyrant finally launched the processes that will bury him in his country.

"And the civilised world must finally understand that evil must be eradicated from the roots, and not talk about some illusory 'peace negotiations'."

We're getting more European reaction to Vladimir Putin's comments, this time from Latvia and Lithuania, two countries that border Russia.

Latvia's Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics says the country will not offer refuge by "[issuing] humanitarian or other types of visas" to any Russians fleeing Moscow's mobilisation of troops.

He cited security concerns, but added in further posts that "the level of military threat to Latvia is still low".

Lithuania's Defence Minister also tweeted, external to say the country's main force to deter against any security threat has been put on high alert.

"As Russia's military mobilisation will also take place near our borders, (Kaliningrad region), Lithuania's Rapid Reaction Force is being put on high alert to prevent any provocation from Russia," said Arvydas Anusauskas.

Kaliningrad, located between Lithuania and Poland, is a strategic region where Russia's Baltic Fleet is headquartered but has no border with mainland Russia.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition figure, says partial mobilisation will lead to "massive tragedy".

In a video message from jail, recorded and published by his lawyers, he says: "This will result in a massive tragedy, in a massive amount of deaths... in order to keep his personal power, Putin went into a neighbouring country, killed people there and is now sending a huge quantity of Russian citizens into this war."

Navalny, Putin's most vocal critic inside Russia, is in jail after being convicted of parole violations, fraud and contempt of court - charges he says were made up to stop his political ambitions and end dissent.

Image source, .

Mobilisation essentially means assembling and preparing troops for active service.

According to Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, this will apply to just 1% of the country's total mobilisation resource.

Russia's estimated to have around 2 million reservists. These are people who have done their military service - it's compulsory in Russia.

The 300,000 reservists being called at this point are soldiers with military experience - although it is not clear what that means and who that refers to.

Shoigu did say that students won't be called up.

Laura Gozzi
BBC News

The BBC has been speaking to Evgeny, a 30-year-old Russian national who has been living in the UK for some time.

He is concerned that his father, who is 55, will be called to join the army.

Here's what he told us:

Frank Gardner
BBC News, Security Correspondent

Even before President Putin’s defiant and combative speech the war in Ukraine was entering a dangerous phase.

Ukraine’s sudden success in retaking over 1,000 square miles of territory around Kharkiv has alarmed Moscow and has accelerated plans by Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas to hold referendums on becoming part of Russia.

Denounced already as a sham, these would in all probability lead to Moscow declaring the entire Donbas region of Ukraine, as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south, a part of sovereign Russia.

The rest of the world may not recognise this but to Moscow that doesn’t matter.

To the Kremlin it will mean Ukraine is no longer fighting to free its own territory, instead - in Putin’s eyes - they are invaders, using Nato-supplied weapons to threaten Russia.

All this can feed into Putin’s narrative that extreme measures are now needed to defend the Russian homeland from an evil cabal of Ukraine and its western backers.

The call-up of 300,000 ill-trained reservists is unlikely to be the only measure he resorts to, in order to rescue his ill-advised invasion of Ukraine from a humiliating defeat.

Image source, .

Image source, Reuters

European leaders are reacting to Vladimir Putin announcing reservists will be called up to fight in Ukraine.

Czech Republic Prime Minister Petr Fiala says the partial mobilisation "is an attempt to further escalate the war Russia launched against Ukraine" and "further proof that Russia is the sole aggressor".

Mr Fiala said it was essential to continue providing aid to Ukraine and was in Czech interests to carry on doing so.

The Czech Republic has supplied the Ukrainian armed forces with heavy weapons including armoured vehicles, helicopters and artillery systems. It was the first country to send tanks to Ukraine.

The Vice Chancellor of Germany Robert Habeck describes mobilisation as "another bad and wrong step from Russia".

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the mobilisation and referenda plans "a sign of panic".

Sergey Markov, a former member of the Russian State Duma for President Vladimir Putin’s party, has been defending the president's partial mobilisation.

"It was absolutely clear that Russia has no war against Ukraine, Russia has no reason to use technical nuclear weapons against Ukrainians," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"Ukrainians are our brothers but Ukraine is occupied by western countries and it's Western countries fighting against the Russian army using Ukrainian soldiers as slaves.

"[This] was the main idea of Vladimir Putin's [address], that's why we need to have this partial mobilisation."

Markov went on to say that "everybody in the world now is thinking of nuclear war", and said such an escalation could be as a result of "the crazy behaviour" of US President Joe Biden and the former and current UK Prime Ministers, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

"Biden, Johnson and Truss are fully responsible for the war in Ukraine," he said.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Rex Features

Pope Francis has addressed the conflict in his weekly address, saying that Ukrainians were being subjected to savageness, monstrosities and torture.

Without naming Russia, the Pope told his general audience in St. Peter's Square that Ukrainians are a "noble" people being martyred.

He also spoke of a conversation he had with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, his charity chief who is delivering aid in Ukraine.

Vatican media said Krajewski, who is Polish, came under light gunfire last week while delivering aid. He also visited mass graves.

The partial mobilisation of military reservists ordered by President Putin is a sign of "weakness", the US ambassador in Ukraine says.

"Sham referenda and mobilisation are signs of weakness, of Russian failure," Bridget Brink writes on Twitter, external.

"The United States will never recognise Russia's claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," she adds.

We're hearing more reaction to Russian President Vladimir Putin's address.

Luke Harding, foreign correspondent at the Guardian, says a partial mobilisation will not solve the shortage of Russian troops on the battlefield and could be "deeply unpopular".

Harding says: “At the same time, we’ve been waiting for a palace coup for oligarchs, generals, or Kremlin officials to remove Vladimir Putin.

"I think, unfortunately, that is not going to happen."

Harding says Putin’s speech was "the usual grudge list of accusations".

“It’s strange that well into six months into this conflict, Vladimir Putin is still living in a parallel reality where really Russia didn’t invade Ukraine, but Ukraine threatened Russia,” he adds.