Ukraine Politician Urges 'National Mobilization' Of Army To Defend Against Russian Troops

Ukraine politician Vitali Klitschko has urged parliament to mobilize the Army to stand up to Russia, following the vote in Russia's upper house to approve military force in Crimea, AFP reports.

"Parliament must ask the army's commander-in-chief to declare national mobilization after the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine," Klitschko said in a statement to AFP. Further, he asked the UN Security Council to convene talks on the crisis.

Ukraine's Ministry of Defense seems confident in its ability to stem further Russian incursions into the country, but it doesn't seem like the military would be heeding Klitschko's call to action. On the MoD website, a news release said that Ukraine "expects the normalization of the situation in Crimea" and that rumors of Russian movements in the direction of Kiev are unfounded.

"Ukraine has its own armed forces that are able to fulfill their constitutional duty," Acting Minister of Defense Igor Tenyukh said in a statement, according to Google Translate.

Earlier today, President Obama spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, telling him he needed to withdraw his troops from Ukraine because his country was in violation of international law.

Klitschko, a former professional boxer now in the Ukrainian Parliament, has had his eye on the presidency even before Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted and fled the country. His outsider persona and reputation makes him somewhat of a contender for future leadership.

"As I see it from the outside," his long-time manager Bernd Bonte told BBC, "Vitali is electable because he was never involved in the so-called 'old' politics there. No corruption, he was never supported by any oligarchs or any strange people. The people know he made his money inside the boxing ring, not through some dark sources. That's a big, big plus."