"210th day of the 'three-day war'. Russians who demanded the destruction of [Ukraine] ended up getting: 1. Mobilization. 2. Closed borders, blocking of bank accounts. 3. Prison for desertion," Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted on Wednesday.

He continued: "Everything is still according to the plan, right? Life has a great sense of humor."

In a rare televised address on Wednesday, Putin called for the "partial mobilization" of hundreds of thousands of Russia's military reservists — a move he said would start immediately and one that would see reservists gain the same status as the regular troops in Russia's armed forces.

Immediately after Putin's speech, during which he also threatened the use of nuclear weapons and argued that this troubling threat is "not a bluff," plane tickets out of Russia began selling fast. Western officials, like UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace and US ambassador to Kyiv Bridget Brink, said Putin's announcement is proof that his forces are losing in Ukraine. 

The mobilization is also a reversal of an earlier committement from Putin. The Russian leader said in early March, just days after launching his large-scale invasion of Ukraine, that he would not send reservists to fight.

"He used to do anything to avoid mobilization," Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs, tweeted on Wednesday. "Putin is in agony. He threw all his cards on the table." 

Russia's mobilization moves shine a light on the Russian military's glaring personnel issues.