Putin says Russia may be fighting in Ukraine for a long time

"Under these conditions, talk about any additional mobilisation measures simply makes no sense," he said. Putin has rarely spoken about the likely duration of the war, although he boasted in July that Russia was just getting started.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that his army could be fighting in Ukraine for a long time, but he saw "no sense" in mobilising additional soldiers at this point. "As for the duration of the special military operation, well, of course, this can be a long process," Putin said, using his preferred term to refer to the Russian invasion, now in its 10th month.

In a televised meeting of his human rights council that was dominated by the war, Putin said Russians would "defend ourselves with all the means at our disposal", asserting that Russia was seen in the West as "a second-class country that has no right to exist at all". He said the risk of a nuclear war was growing - the latest in a series of such warnings from Moscow - but that Russia would not threaten recklessly to use such weapons.

"We haven't gone mad, we realise what nuclear weapons are," Putin said. "We have these means in more advanced and modern form than any other nuclear country, that's an obvious fact. But we aren't about to run around the world brandishing this weapon like a razor." He said there was no reason for a second round of mobilisation at this point, after a call-up of at least 300,000 reservists in September and October.

Putin said that, out of that total, 150,000 were now deployed in Ukraine. Of those, 77,000 were in combat units and the remainder performing defensive functions, he said. The remaining 150,000 were still at training centres. "Under these conditions, talk about any additional mobilisation measures simply makes no sense," he said.

Putin has rarely spoken about the likely duration of the war, although he boasted in July that Russia was just getting started. Since then, Russia has been forced into a series of significant retreats, but Putin has said he has no regrets about launching the most devastating war in Europe since World War Two.

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