Ukraine weighing military’s request to mobilize another 500K for war: Zelenskyy
Global News
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was a "highly sensitive" issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians into the armed forces in what would mark a dramatic step up of Kyiv’s effort to beat back Russia.
The Ukrainian leader told his end-of-year news conference it was a “highly sensitive” issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Zelenskyy said he wanted to hear more arguments in favour of mobilising the additional people before backing such a move.
“This is a very serious number,” he said.
Ukraine has been at war with Russian troops since February 2022. Both sides treat their casualty numbers as a state secret, but U.S. officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded.
Ukraine’s troop numbers are not known, but it has said in the past it has around 1 million people under arms. Russia has been expanding its army during the war and said on Tuesday it planned to boost its ranks to 1.5 million service members.
“I said I would need more arguments to support this move. Because first of all, it’s a question of people, secondly, it’s a question of fairness, it’s a question of defence capability, and it’s a question of finances,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine, which initially saw tens of thousands of volunteer fighters queuing up to defend their country from Russia’s invasion, is now trying to conscript more men to replace those currently at the front.
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