Zelenskyy: Ukraine's nearly million-strong army encounters Russian casualties in Avdiivka

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has stated that Ukraine has 880,000 people in its army, surpassing the figure of 617,000 Russians mentioned by Vladimir Putin as Russia's contingent in the war against Ukraine.

Source: Zelenskyy in an interview with the German TV channel ARD

Quote from Zelenskyy: "We are grateful to those who returned to rebuild Ukraine, and not just [those who returned to] fight. In Ukraine, a lot of people are working... 

We have 880,000 [military personnel]; we have a million-strong army, in addition to 30 million citizens working, maybe even more – I can't say for sure because we don't know: 6.5 to 7.5 million people have left since the beginning [of the full-scale war]."

Details: The President emphasised that whilst Ukraine has a large army, everyone in the country is defending Europe and the rest of the world in their workplaces. 

Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians who have emigrated abroad should pay Ukrainian taxes, and that men who left the country illegally should return.

Quote: "We would like those who left the country illegally, of mobilisation age, to be here in Ukraine. Once again, the issue is not that we need every one of those men on the front lines – we have a large army – but about justice. These people should pay taxes. 

Some people left and didn’t return. They didn’t return to their work [in Ukraine]. That’s their right. But if they are citizens of Ukraine, they should pay taxes – preferably in Ukraine. Because these funds are passed on to our military; to our soldiers who protect us. And they protect not only Ukraine [but by extension, the rest of the free world]."

Details: Zelenskyy believes that the authorities of other states shouldn’t repatriate those who left Ukraine illegally but that the law should work. 

The President of Ukraine also agreed that Vladimir Putin is waging a war of attrition. In his opinion, the Russian Federation doesn’t count its losses.

Quote: "The first year of the war, I don’t think Russia used mathematics at all; it just threw away its people. They treat them like pieces of meat, and I’m not sure that fact bothers [their leadership]. One million, two million, three million… they don’t care how many are going to die."

And now we have Avdiivka, for example. It’s just hard to comprehend: there are walls made out of people; people just lying on the battlefield on top of each other – they’re dead, but they make no effort to remove the corpses."

Background: 

• On 26 January, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Russian occupying forces in Ukraine total 617,000 military personnel. Verifying this information is impossible.
• Earlier, there was a discussion about mobilising and training at least 500,000 new conscripts in Ukraine, although the number may be increased as needed.
• The Cabinet of Ministers (the government) is drafting a new law on mobilisation, whilst in the Verkhovna Rada (the parliament), a new approach to conscription is being considered, which will include a monthly payment for the deferment of mobilisation for different categories of workers.

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