The size of the Ukrainian military is now almost six times larger than it was at the beginning of the conflict between Kiev and Moscow, President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed.
“We needed an army of more than 250,000 or 260,000, but there were only around 120,000” battle-ready troops in Ukraine before the start of the Russian military operation in late February, Zelensky told Ukraine 24 outlet on Friday.
The president noted that he’d given an order in early 2022 to boost the number of soldiers by another 100,000 “no matter if we had the money or not.” But he acknowledged that even those numbers weren’t enough to stop the Russian military.
“Today it’s 700,000. Now you see the results of the work of 700,000 who are fighting,” he added.
Zelensky ordered a general mobilization after the start of the conflict, saying that all men aged…