PUTIN: ‘THIS IS NO BLUFF’: In a 20-minute recorded address to his nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin upped the ante in a tacit admission that his forces have suffered humiliating losses in the first seven months of his faltering invasion of Ukraine.

Putin ordered what he called a “partial mobilization,” which would activate some 300,000 reserve forces who already have military training, and he peppered his speech with accusations against NATO and the West, saying they had “crossed all lines” in arming Ukraine, and are engaging in “nuclear blackmail,” falsely accusing NATO of contemplating the use nuclear weapons against Russia.