If Ukraine is not in NATO, how can it finance and arm million-strong army - Zelenskyy
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that security guarantees for Ukraine should include funding and arming a million-strong army, especially if the country does not become a NATO member.
He said this in an interview with Polish media, Censor.NET reports.
Zelensky rhetorically asked how Ukraine will be able to support its army without NATO's help:
"I have a simple question, for example, we are not yet in NATO and diplomacy has gone. I have a question: the million-strong army that Ukraine has, now our partners are helping us, where will we find the money and weapons to maintain a million-strong army? This is a fact. If you don't have NATO, air defense, support, a common fleet, you have to rely on yourself. There is no army in Europe today that is bigger than the Ukrainian army. It's not that this is our advantage, it's that it's very, very expensive," Zelenskyy emphasized.
The President emphasized that escalation must be prevented for peace. To do so, he said, Ukraine needs security guarantees, including NATO membership, modern air defense systems, weapons, and other support.
After his meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on January 15, Zelenskyy said that among the possible guarantees was the deployment of peacekeeping forces in Ukraine. This issue is currently being discussed with allies. Zelenskyy also announced talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who arrived in Kyiv on January 16.
Zelenskyy emphasized that today the Russian army is larger than all EU armies combined: "It is bigger, has more weapons, more people and more chutzpah... Without the Ukrainian army, the EU army has no chance now, unfortunately."
