How many people are fighting in Ukraine

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky revealed in an interview with journalists the number of defenders of the country: today there are 700,000 of them:

“Today it is 700 thousand – here you see the result of the work of 700 thousand warring people. 700 thousand. This is at the time of the war.”

The President added that all this number of people and equipment is scattered throughout the country. Zelensky believes, notes the publication, that a country like Ukraine needs an army not of 250,000 or 260,000 (and there were 120,000 combat troops there, he specified), but much more. Therefore, at the beginning of 2022, the head of state signed a decree on increasing the country’s armed forces by 100,000 next year.

However, he believes that even those plus 100,000 would not be able to stop a full-scale Russian invasion:

“From the point of view of the forces that the Russian Federation used, using absolutely everything, even using reserves, using such” quiet mobilization “(“quiet”, because mobilization is when there is war, and they could not declare war on us, they are called “special operation”). They transferred troops, there was an increase both in the Crimea and in Belarus – in different directions. This is really a large volume. I think that today no country in Europe could cope with such a volume.”

At the same time, Zelensky recalled that NATO countries have the appropriate weapons, there is a Petriot, there are serious air defense systems capable of protecting the sky from those attacks, because of which Ukraine lost its first days.

And yet the president maintains that Ukraine was well prepared for the war – Russia did not know much about it. It was this preparation that became the reason that Ukraine was not captured in the first days, as intelligence and military analysts predicted.

He recalled that for a long time Ukraine lived in a state of war, and it was not only a war in the Donbass: cyber attacks, economic and financial steps, a decrease in the volume of energy resources, blocking, a shortage of gasoline, and the like. Therefore, the fact that the Russian Federation is preparing for a full-scale offensive is quoted by BB.LV, “it has been known since October, and maybe since September”:

But despite this understanding and the data of various intelligence services, in fact, no one knew what the war would be like, because “the devil is in the details”: are you fighting with the forces and means that are on the territory of Belarus, or with those that are moving through the territory of Belarus and go to Ukraine. Will tanks come from Belarus, or are missiles flying from there. Whether you are at war with one country or already with two.

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