Advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podolyak, has stated in an interview with Novini.LIVE that maintaining the Armed Forces of Ukraine at 800,000 personnel should be financed by all of Europe, News.az reports, citing CNN.
According to Podolyak, the key issue is not merely the number of troops, but who will bear the financial responsibility for maintaining such a large military force.
“This implies a very large volume of funding. Before the full-scale war, we were increasing the size of the army to 250,000–300,000 personnel.”
He added that, in parallel, mass production of unmanned aerial vehicles and missiles—especially short- and medium-range missiles—should be developed.
The advisor noted that an army of 800,000 personnel should be formed on a professional basis, with servicemen serving under contract in return for “fairly good salaries.”
“The Ukrainian army must be fully integrated into a conditional ‘pan-European armed forces,’” Podolyak added.
