Ukraine has a million-strong army ready to retake the south, ministry says — RT Russia and the former Soviet Union

As ordered by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, a million-strong fighting force has been assembled in the country to retake its southern regions, which had previously been taken by Russian forces, the Minister of Defense said. Defense Alexey Reznikov to The Times.

“We understand that, politically, it is very necessary for our country. The President has instructed the Supreme Military Commander to draw up plans,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.

“We are people of the free world and with a real sense of justice and freedom. We have around 700,000 in the armed forces and when you add the national guard, the police, the border guards, we are around a million,” he added. added the minister.

Reznikov praised British efforts to help Ukraine, particularly Ben Wallace, the British Defense Secretary, who he said played a key role in changing the approach to supplying Soviet equipment to the 155 mm artillery to NATO standards, guided multiple launch rocket systems and high technology. drones.

This, Reznikov explained, will compensate for the heavy losses in the Donbass region in the face of heavy shelling by Russian artillery. President Zelensky had previously said that Ukraine was losing some 200 troops a day in the region.

Reznikov also mentioned other allies, claiming a « The anti-Kremlin coalition was born. »

“Our partners in London and Washington DC and other capitals, they are invested in us, not just with money, but with the expectations of their people that we have to make the Kremlin lose. We must win this war together,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s old alliances have also been broken, Reznik said, citing Kazakhstan: Recently, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev publicly refused to recognize the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics as sovereign nations.

“I am sure that in the next few years we will see a procession of calls for sovereignty over Russian territory. The Russian Federation will end its life as different countries – Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, etc. » said Reznikov.

Russia sent troops to Ukraine on February 24, citing kyiv’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, intended to give the Donetsk and Luhansk regions special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has since admitted that kyiv’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to save time and « to create powerful armed forces. »

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbas republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. kyiv insists the Russian offensive was unprovoked.

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