Ukraine’s military wants to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops: Zelenskyy

Kyiv, The Gulf Observer: Ukraine’s military wants to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops to fight Russia’s invasion, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he has asked them to spell out their plans in detail on what is “a very sensitive matter” before deciding whether he grants their wish as the war approaches the two-year mark.

Such a major mobilization would cost Ukraine around 500 billion hryvnias ($13.4 billion), Zelenskyy said. Other aspects to be considered include whether troops currently on the front line would be rotated or allowed home leave after almost 22 months of full-scale war.

Ukrainian Ministry of Defense statistics say the Ukrainian army had nearly 800,000 troops in October. That doesn’t include National Guard or other units. In total, 1 million Ukrainians are in uniform.

Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million.

Russia, Ukraine’s far bigger neighbor, outguns and outnumbers Kyiv’s forces.

The around 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has barely budged this year as a Ukrainian counteroffensive ran up against sturdy Russian defenses. Now, with winter setting in, troop movements are being slowed by bad weather, placing grater emphasis on the use of artillery, missiles and drones.

Putin said earlier Tuesday that the Kremlin’s forces have taken the initiative in Ukraine and is well positioned for the coming year.

Zelenskyy, speaking at a year-end news conference, insisted that the Kremlin’s forces had failed in their efforts to occupy more of Ukraine since their full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.