Zelenskyy on Russia's plans to mobilise 300,000 more people: No guarantee that's their final number

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that Russia will need around a month to train the 300,000 people it expects to be able to mobilise; he has also suggested that even more people might eventually be mobilised.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an interview broadcast on Saturday, 6 April

Quote from Zelenskyy: "There’s no guarantee that 300,000 is the final number of servicemen they’re going to mobilise. Our intelligence reports also suggest that they should be able to mobilise 300,000 by 1 June. [Military] training in Russia is very brief, as we can see from the level of skills of Russian soldiers on the front. They’ll need around a month to [train] this number of people.

Given their issues with discipline, they might not be able to mobilise 300,000 by 1 June, but we have to trust the information that we have, and we have to be prepared."

Details: Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine’s Defence Forces cannot just hold back the Russian assaults, they "should create appropriate military conditions" and "undertake appropriate attacks on the areas where Russian forces are concentrated, in order to thwart their counteroffensive operations".

"I’ll be honest, without too much detail, but we’ve relayed this information to our partners – what we need so that we can not just hold [Russian forces] back but also prevent the Russian occupation forces’ counteroffensive operations," he said.

Zelenskyy also reiterated that the situation on the front is currently "difficult, but stable, and enemy forces are not advancing". 

Quote from Zelenskyy: "In order to prevent the enemy’s counteroffensive operations, personnel has to be prepared, and the brigades that are replacing the ones that are currently holding the line have to be fully staffed, which means a lot of reserve personnel have to be trained – with all due respect, this includes both young guys, the youth, but also people with experience, those who have gone through combat coordination and who have combat experience. These brigades have to be fully staffed and prepared [to fight].

We have relayed all this information to our partners: the exact number of brigades, the exact number of personnel, the exact number of equipment that will be deployed to different fronts. They know all this and they know when we’re experiencing Russian assaults or what threats exist on the Russian side, and when we figure out particular areas where we might be able to thwart their operations."

Previously: On 3 April, Zelenskyy said that Russia was preparing to mobilise an additional 300,000 servicemen by 1 June.

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