The assessment was made by the GUR’s Andriy Iusov on Monday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The “I Want to Live” hotline was set up recently by the Ukrainian government.
Iusov said that the number of callers “has risen notably” after Russian President Vladimir Putin last week mobilised 300,000 additional troops for the continuing invasion of Ukraine, PAP reported, citing the Hromadske website.
According to Iusov, those contacting the hotline include people who have received mobilisation notices, as well as others who haven’t been called up yet.
‘What should I do to surrender?’
“They call and ask: ‘If I am mobilised, what should I do to surrender properly?’,” the intelligence official said.
Iusov added that there has been a spike in callers from the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula.
The intelligence operative said that Putin’s partial mobilisation would proceed in stages, with some men set to receive their mobilisation notices at a later date.
“Some of the draftees are indeed being sent immediately to the frontline with little preparation,” Iusov said. “Others will be kept in Russia to form new units.”
The Kremlin’s partial call-up has fueled public anger, led to an exodus of fighting-age men from Russia and sparked protests across the country, the Reuters news agency reported.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday appealed to Russian citizens not to submit to Putin’s “criminal mobilisation” for the war.
Tuesday is day 216 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, sprotyv.mod.gov.ua, newsweek.com