Explainer-What does Vladimir Putin's 'partial' mobilisation mean for Russia's military machine?

A Russian state flag flies near a tower of the Kremlin behind trees in central Moscow, Russia September 21, 2022. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

LONDON (Reuters) -President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two after suffering a major battlefield reversal in Ukraine, an attempt to turn the military tide in what he has cast as a defining East-West clash.

The mobilisation is, for now, being officially described as a partial one that will steadily draw in 300,000 reservists from across the world's largest country over a period of months, rather than a full call-up that would rely on what Russia's defence minister says is a vast reserve force of 25 million people.