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15 Jan, 16:32

Size of Ukranian army stands at 880,000 troops — Zelensky

The Ukrainian president also emphasized that French leader Emmanuel Macron's initiative to deploy a foreign contingent needs further study

MOSCOW, January 15. /TASS/. Vladimir Zelensky stated that the Ukrainian army is 880,000 people strong, and that there are no plans to reduce this number.

"As for the Ukrainian army, today it numbers 880,000 troops," Zelensky said at a press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Warsaw. In January 2024, during an interview with the ARD TV channel, Zelensky gave the same figure for the size of the Ukrainian army.

However, he noted that these 880,000 soldiers are scattered across the country, which is why Kiev opposes any reduction in personnel. He also emphasized that French President Emmanuel Macron's initiative to deploy a foreign contingent needs further study.

"Of course, we must understand what the contingent from other countries entails. We support this initiative, but we need to know how many people will make up this contingent and what Ukraine’s army will look like in this case," he emphasized. "Therefore, we are not entertaining any talk about reduction at this time," Zelensky added.

He sees it as necessary to determine the "quantitative and qualitative composition" of foreign troops, as well as their deployment locations. Zelensky doesn’t want this manpower to be "some symbolic gesture, but a real contingent."

"First of all, these can and should be instructors who will comprehensively train our troops in Ukraine, on our territory," he continued.

Zelensky added that he is still discussing the deployment of foreign troops with Macron, but only in general terms at this stage. He also plans to address the issue with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

"So far, it’s all quite general. We favor the idea that a contingent from one country or another, from one of our strategic partners <...>, can be part of the security guarantees. However, it cannot be the only security guarantee, as that would be insufficient. We will discuss this issue with the British leader," he noted.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated earlier that the appearance of foreign military contingents in Ukraine would be fraught with highly negative consequences, up to irreparable ones.