'Without a million Ukrainians, you won't manage" — Zelensky wants Ukraine to form core of envisioned European army
Ukraine's army, with about a million troops, should form the backbone of a prospective European joint forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Jan. 23.
The statement comes after Zelensky reiterated on Jan. 20 the call to create a joint European army of at least 3 million personnel in response to growing Russian threat.
"(Russian) army will number 2.5-3 million. They want to reach all of this by 2030, and, based on their speed, we see that this is possible," Zelensky said following the World Economic Foundation's meetings in Davos, Switzerland.
"I'm not saying it will be that way, I'm saying it's possible," the president added.
Zelensky pointed out how the Ukrainian army had used European and American weapons to great and even unprecedented effect in fending off the Russian army.
Russia, meanwhile, now has both a supercharged domestic defense industry and 1.5 million soldiers or former soldiers with experience fighting in Ukraine.
"Considering European forces, we're not just talking about quantity, but about capability and experience. Without the Ukrainian army — without a million Ukrainians — you won't manage. And this will be the backbone of such an army."
The size of the Ukrainian army, as announced by Zelensky, significantly exceeds Russia's demands, which seek to ensure that, following a peace agreement, Ukraine's military would consist of no more than 600,000 personnel — a condition Kyiv categorically rejects.
Yet Ukraine has reportedly agreed to limit its peacetime military to 800,000 service members, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 25, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials.
A Ukrainian army of this size would still remain the second-largest European force after Russia and put it close to its current wartime strength of about 900,000 service members.
Zelensky's recent remarks come nearly a year after he first called on European partners to create a new armed force at the Munich Security Conference on Feb. 15, 2025, amid uncertainty over further U.S. support if Russian aggression escalates.
Since then, European leaders have taken no steps toward implementing the initiative for nearly a year, according to Zelensky.
"Maybe now, with all the new challenges, European leaders will take it more seriously," the president said.
Several European nations, led by the U.K. and France, have held a series of talks aimed at establishing a "Coalition of the Willing," which aim to provide Ukraine with the military guarantees underpinning a peace deal. So far, this coalition has yet to guarantee any European boots on the ground in post-war Ukraine.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump's saber-rattling over Greenland, which he wants to take from Denmark, has reinvigorated talk of a joint European army, with several nations sending token forces to military exercises on the Arctic island on Jan. 15.
