Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is promising three protections to Russian soldiers who willingly surrender. Zelensky’s offer comes as Vladimir Putin announced plans to call up 300,000 reservists to replenish the troops who have died in battle. Zelensky delivered his offer directly to Russians as he made his nightly video address.

Zelensky addressed them in Russian. He said every Russian soldier who surrenders is guaranteed three protections.

1. You will be treated in a civilised manner, in accordance with all conventions;
2. No one will know the circumstances of your surrender, no one in Russia will know that your surrender was voluntary;
3. If you are afraid to return to Russia and do not want an exchange, we will find a way to ensure this as well.”

Zelensky told Russians that Russian commanders don’t care about the lives of their soldiers; they just have to “fill empty spaces left by the dead, wounded, those who fled or those who were captured.” He appealed to those who are reluctant to sign on to fighting. And, he emphasized that Ukraine will liberate all of its territories, including Crimea.

So, now is the key moment for all of you: right now it is being decided whether your life will end or not. It is better not to take a conscription letter than to die in a foreign land as a war criminal. It is better to run away from criminal mobilisation than to be crippled and then bear responsibility in the court for participating in the war of aggression. It is better to surrender to Ukrainian captivity than to be killed by the strikes of our weapons, absolutely fair strikes, as Ukraine defends itself in this war,” the president emphasised.

Last week, Putin announced a mobilization of 300,000 military reservists. In the mobilization decree, there was a secret reference that allows the Ministry of Defense to call up one million people. Then, on September 24 Putin signed a law that introduces harsher penalties for deserting, looting, and surrender. These actions caused potential soldiers to begin fleeing Russia and Russians began to protest in the streets.

Putin has badly mismanaged his invasion into Ukraine. With the help of American military equipment support, Ukraine is facing down Russia military forces and winning battles. If nothing else, Putin’s invasion into Ukraine exposed that the Russian military is a paper tiger. It is not the fierce superpower that has been hyped for years. Russians don’t support the war and are making that clear. Protests broke out in Moscow and other cities though protesting is illegal in Russia.

Protests in major cities broke out following the Kremlin leader’s announcement of the troop surge, while queues at the nation’s borders have appeared as young men attempt to flee.

While the initial protests were quickly stamped out by Putin’s well-trained domestic security troops, new protests have broken out this afternoon in Moscow.

Images show menacing, helmeted riot police manhandling brave men and women who ventured out into the rain to protest Putin’s mobilisation.

Soldiers have also been spotted drinking and brawling on their way to basic training.

European Council president Charles Michel advised EU members yesterday to offer asylum to conscientious objectors leaving Russia to avoid the draft.

Russian police have detained hundreds of protesters. Some of the detainees were served mobilization summonses at police stations. Protests have broken out in 32 cities in Russia.

A total of 745 people had been detained in Russia as of 9.48 p.m. Most of them, some 378 people, were detained in the capital city of Moscow. Meanwhile, police officers detained 127 people in St. Petersburg and 70 people in Novosibirsk.

Russian human rights centers and opposition media published videos of the arrests on Sept. 24. According to the footage, some people were detained with particular cruelty.

Russian security forces were indiscriminate in their arrests, detaining minors, journalists, passers-by, couriers, and even Russia Today propagandists.

OVD-Info also published information from eyewitnesses that police officers were overheard discussing a certain planned number of detainees – implying that they probably had a quota of arrests to fulfil.

In addition, OVD-Info repeatedly received reports from men detained at the protests that they had been served mobilization summonses at police stations. Such cases were recorded in Moscow, Irkutsk, Samara, and Ryazan.

Not all EU members are welcoming Russians fleeing to avoid military service. Estonian foreign minister Urmas Reinsalu said, “A refusal to fulfil one’s civic duty in Russia or a desire to do so does not constitute sufficient grounds for being granted asylum in another country.”

Finland has tightened its border with Russia to stop the flood of Russian men fleeing. Details have not been forthcoming but Helsinki said it will significantly restrict the number of Russian tourists out of fear that the streams of Russian men may cause “serious damage to Finland’s international position.” Finland doesn’t want to be seen as rocking any boats right now, as they are applying to become members of NATO. Finland has aligned itself with Ukraine.

“Russia’s [mobilization] and increasing volume of tourists transiting via Finland are causing serious harm to Finland’s international position and relations. Government will issue a resolution to significantly restrict the entry and issuing visas to Russian citizens,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said, per the country’s Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

At this point, Russia is losing the war. Putin has resorted to attempting a political victory by forcing a vote, literally at gunpoint, in Russian-occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine. Residents voted on referendums intended to validate Moscow’s annexation of the territory it occupies. It’s a sham vote meant to bolster Putin’s efforts to annex territory in Ukraine.

Voting is taking place in portions of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and will last five days, ending Tuesday. The outcome is not in doubt.

The purported referendums are illegal under Ukrainian and international law and would not remotely meet basic democratic standards for free and fair elections. Western leaders, including President Biden, have denounced the process as a “sham” to prepare the ground for Russia’s theft of Ukrainian land.

Mad Vlad may get his sham vote but the war is far from over. Zelensky is adamant about taking back the territories that Putin has overtaken, including Crimea.