President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one of the demands of Russian dictator Putin would be to reduce the Armed Forces of Ukraine by five times.
The Head of State said this during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
“One of the important questions that Putin will ask, and we will see it, is to reduce the Ukrainian army by several times. If we were able to create an army of 800,000 plus, it is clear that we plus Europe is an army that is able to stand and defend its borders. This is an army that is able to repel Putin, and he understands this. The fastest [for Russia] way is to put pressure on the United States to keep Ukraine out of NATO and to put pressure on all allies to reduce our army by five times. This is what he wants. We will not allow this to happen,” Zelensky said.
He also noted that without the Ukrainian army and without effective guarantees of peace, Putin will move on.
“He will return with this army to occupy all the countries of the former Soviet Union. Then he will do what he did with our Crimea – enter other EU and NATO countries, stay there for a little while to put forward some demands and ultimatums. Someone will have to leave NATO – our Baltic friends, Finland, Sweden. He will bring us all back to the world that lives in his head. This is what will happen if there are no strong security guarantees,” the President said.
As reported, on December 3, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum stated that the only real guarantee of security for Ukraine, as well as a deterrent to further Russian aggression against Ukraine and other states, is only Ukraine’s full membership in NATO.
Photo: OP
Source: Zelensky: Putin will demand to reduce Ukrainian army 5 times, we will not allow it
