Morawiecki: Russia will attempt to destroy Ukraine. NATO can't allow for that

"Russia will continue to spread destruction in order to destroy Ukraine and grab more Ukrainian territory. And because of the recent series of painful failures, Russia has launched a new plan of changing the map by the annexation of new territories. We can't agree to that," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday (September 21).

"Of course, together with our American and British allies, we’ll do everything that’s necessary to make all NATO countries help Ukraine defend itself from the extra mobilization that was announced by the Kremlin," Morawiecki said, urging more help for Kyiv from western allies.

"The reports about partial mobilisation have been confirmed, Russia will attempt to destroy Ukraine and grab some of its territory. We can't allow for that," Morawiecki said during military drills the Polish army held with U.S. and British allies in eastern Poland.

"Poland is a member of NATO, the biggest and most important military alliance in the world's history. We consider this a substantial guarantee of our security. But while we as a NATO member state have been supporting Ukraine in its fight for its freedom and for the security of Europe, we also understand the importance of Poland's own defence and the Polish army," Polish PM added.

"In 2023, we want to increase our military forces by at least twenty thousand new soldiers. And I’m not talking about territorial defence, but the regular army."

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday called up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine and said Moscow would respond with the might of all its vast arsenal if the West pursued what he called its "nuclear blackmail" over the conflict there.

It was Russia's first such mobilisation since World War Two and signified a major escalation of the war, now in its seventh month.

It followed recent setbacks for Russian forces, who have been driven from areas they had captured in northeast Ukraine in a Ukrainian counter-offensive this month and are bogged down in the south.

In a televised address to the Russian nation, Putin said: "If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people - this is not a bluff". Russia had "lots of weapons to reply," he said.

Russia's defence minister said the partial mobilisation would see 300,000 reservists called up and would apply to those with previous military experience.

Although Russia has been involved in a number of conflicts since World War Two, this was the first such call-up since then. The Soviet Union's long war in Afghanistan involved conscripts.