Russian President Vladimir Putin could officially declare war on Ukraine as early as May 9, US and Western officials say.

CNN writes about it.

Putin could move to formally declare war on Ukraine as early as May 9, allowing for full mobilization of Russian reserve forces in their attempt to conquer eastern and southern Ukraine, US and Western officials say.

Western officials have long believed that Putin is using the symbolic meaning and propaganda value of the day to announce a military achievement in Ukraine, a major escalation in hostilities, or both.

Officials have begun discussing one scenario, which is that Putin officially declares war on Ukraine on May 9th. Currently, Russian officials insist that the conflict is a “special military operation” for the purpose of “denatification”.

“I think he’s going to try and get out of his ‘special operation,'” British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told LBC Radio last week. I need more people. I need more Russian cannon fodder.”

According to the media, the official declaration of war on May 9 could strengthen the Russian citizens and increase the popularity of the invasion. It would also allow Putin, according to Russian law, to mobilize reserve forces and draft conscripts that officials say Russia badly needs amid a rising labor shortage. Western and Ukrainian officials have estimated that at least 10,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in the war since the Russian invasion just over two months ago.

Other options for May 9 include annexing the occupied territories of Luhansk and Donetsk, intensifying the attack on Odessa in the south, or declaring full control of Mariupol.

US Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter said the US has highly credible intelligence reports that Russia will attempt to annex Lugansk and Donetsk “sometime in mid-May.” There are also indications that Russia may be planning to proclaim and annex a “people’s republic” in Kherson.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said there are “commendable reasons to believe that the Russians will do their best to use” May 9 for propaganda purposes.

“We’ve seen the Russians really redouble their propaganda efforts, probably almost certainly to distract themselves from their tactical and strategic failures on the battlefield in Ukraine,” Price said at a State Department briefing.

Price added that he “”saw the suggestion that Russia might formally declare war” on May 9 and said that “it would be a great irony if Moscow used the opportunity of ‘Victory Day’ to declare war, which in itself would allow them to increase the number of conscripts in a way that they are not able to do now, in a way that would be tantamount to showing the world that their military efforts are failing, that they are entangled in their military campaign and military goals.

“I’m pretty sure we’ll hear more from Moscow before May 9,” Price added.

“I am quite sure that you will hear more from the United States, from our partners, including our partners in NATO, also before May 9,” he concluded.

Recall that Russian President Vladimir Putin can use nuclear weapons to “save face.” All this is happening against the background of the fact that the Russian army did not have significant successes in the war with Ukraine. This was announced in an interview with Fox News by the head of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bob Menendez.

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