Separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declare full military mobilisation

FILE PHOTO: Head of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin gestures during a news conference in Donetsk, Ukraine February 11, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine declared a full military mobilisation on Saturday, a day after ordering women and children to evacuate to southern Russia because of what they said was the threat of conflict.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said in a video statement that he had signed a decree on mobilisation and called on men "able to hold a weapon in their hands" to come to military commissariats.