Zelensky weighs up options as Russian forces grind down resistance
President Volodymyr Zelensky is yet to make a final decision on the army’s request to swell its ranks to push back Russia’s invading army.
Ukraine’s generals are seeking to mobilise up to half a million new soldiers to push back Russia’s invading army, as concerns grow over the future of Western military aid to the country.
Most Ukrainian soldiers at the front are believed to be volunteers, many of whom have been fighting almost non-stop since the start of Russia’s invasion last year. Under Ukrainian law only males aged 27 to 60 can be mobilised, although younger men can volunteer to fight. Conscripts aged 18 to 20 cannot be sent to the battlefield.
Speaking at his annual press conference in Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had yet to make a final decision on the army’s request to swell its ranks.
“I said that I would need more arguments to support this move. Because first of all it’s a question of people, second, it’s a question of fairness, it’s a question of defence capability and it’s a question of finances.”
Even before the war, Ukraine’s population of about 43 million people was less than a third of Russia’s, meaning that President Vladimir Putin is able to try to grind down Kyiv’s forces through sheer weight of numbers.
At the start of the invasion there were long queues at military recruitment offices as people rushed to sign up to defend Ukraine. Today many of those volunteers have been killed or injured or are simply exhausted, and Ukraine is struggling to replace them.
“I’m on the edge of a breakdown,” a 50-year-old Ukrainian soldier said this week, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I don’t know how much longer I can go on.”
Mr Zelensky suggested that a victory for Donald Trump at next year’s US presidential elections could lead to a domino effect of Western countries cutting assistance to Ukraine. Mr Trump, who is expected to easily secure the Republican Party nomination, is ahead of President Joe Biden in some opinion polls. He has pledged to resolve the war in Ukraine in 24 hours by forcing Mr Zelensky to “make a deal”; a comment widely seen as meaning he would pressure him to surrender territory to Mr Putin.
Mr Zelensky did not directly criticise Mr Trump, but he said if he returned to the White House it was clear that he would “have a different policy” towards Ukraine than the Biden administration.
Republicans in the US congress are refusing to approve a further $US60bn military aid package for Ukraine until the White House agrees to immigration reforms. Senate leaders of both parties said on Tuesday that Washington would not be able to approve new aid for Ukraine before year’s end, as the two sides continued to seek a compromise.
Last week Hungary blocked an EU financial aid deal for Ukraine, and fewer than half the one million artillery shells that the EU promised have been delivered.
A report by the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think tank, warned that Russia could conquer all of Ukraine if the US and Europe stopped providing military assistance. “Such an outcome would bring a battered but triumphant Russian army right up to NATO’s border from the Black Sea to the Arctic Ocean,” it wrote.
Mr Zelensky’s comments on mobilisation came after a top Ukrainian general said that troops along the entire frontline were facing ammunition shortages and had been forced to downsize some operations because of a fall in foreign assistance. “The volumes we have are not sufficient,” General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said.
Although Russian casualties are estimated by Western intelligence to be equivalent to 90 per cent of the 360,000-strong army that invaded Ukraine in February last year, the Kremlin has managed to replenish its forces by recruiting prisoners and carrying out a nationwide mobilisation last year.
A year ago Mr Zelensky was basking in the success of Ukrainian advances that routed the Russian army in the east, north and south. His star has fallen since then amid speculation of a rift with the head of his armed forces.
The Times
More Coverage
Liam Payne toxicology report reveals presence of ‘pink cocaine’
Post-mortem tests ‘show the singer had consumed multiple drugs’ before his death as music industry insiders call for safeguards for teen stars.
The good hip guide – how to protect yours
Hip fractures are increasing, yet there are things we can do to try to prevent them. Peta Bee looks at the diet and exercise tweaks to help your joints.