Russian ruble falls after Putin escalates the war in Ukraine by calling up 300,000 more troops and making nuclear threats

• The ruble weakened against the dollar Wednesday after Putin signaled an escalation in his war on Ukraine.
• Russia's fiat currency fell as low as 62.45 in early morning trading before paring losses.

The ruble fell Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to call up 300,000 additional troops and threatened the use of nuclear weapons.

Russia's escalation of its war on Ukraine comes after Putin's forces were routed in eastern Ukraine earlier this month, giving up large swaths of territory in days.

Russia's currency fell as low as 62.45 against the US dollar early Wednesday, or about 3%, but pared losses to to recover to 60.736, down 0.56%.

Most global currencies lost ground against the dollar as the Federal Reserve was set to announce its latest rate hike for benchmark interest rates. The euro slipped, and the US Dollar Index was up 0.49% on Wednesday.

In a televised speech, Putin said the military is activating 300,000 reservists, marking Russia's first such mobilization since World War II.

He also hinted at the deployment of Russia's nuclear weapons in Ukraine as the Kremlin continues to suffer steep military losses, saying "Russia also has many types of weapons of destruction, the components of which in some cases are more modern than those of the countries of NATO."

The ruble has seen wild swings since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It collapsed to less than a penny in the early days of the war, then rebounded sharply to become the best-performing currency against the dollar after the Russian central bank tightened interest rates drastically and imposed strict capital controls.