GENEVA, December 25. /TASS/. The Ukrainian government will not be able to sustain an army of 800,000 service members, as European leaders demand, a retired four-star German general Harald Kujat told Switzerland’s Zeitgeschehen im Fokus newspaper.
"There is reasonable doubt about the future Kiev government's ability to sustain an armed force of this size," said Kujat, who served as Chief of Staff of the German armed forces (from 2000 to 2002), and as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee (from 2002 to 2005).
As an example, Kujaat named Germany, "which has three times as many people and is way stronger than Ukraine in terms of economic might." At the same time, the German government plans to have an army of 260,000-270,000 servicemen, while the maximum strength of its armed forces is limited to 370,000 by the Two Plus Four Agreement (Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany).
"The 800,000-strong Ukrainian army, as required by the Europeans, would constitute a significant increase from the pre-conflict number of around 200,000 - paramilitary groups not included - and with the cap of 250,000 servicemen which Ukraine sought during the negotiations in Istanbul," the German general said.
In a joint statement, published on December 15 following consultations in Berlin, European Union leaders insisted that Ukraine’s army should have no less than 800,000 service members in peacetime, and are ready to help Kiev in that regard.