Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine's army is larger than Russia's, but will it be enough to sustain the war effort as fighting escalates?
U Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Kyiv's army is now larger than Moscow's during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday. He said that Ukraine's military now has 880,000 soldiers, while Russia's forces are comprised of 600,000 troops.
I hope the russian economy will break down so much it elicts some sort of power shift, and with putin gone, no more mad person having to erase Ukraine and thus the war can end.
Google "russian trains" and "ball bearings". If the sanctions don't end soon for Russia, their economy absolutely will break down.
Russia moves the vast majority of its good by rail, but the trains are breaking down because the ball bearings are wearing out and Russia can't produce new ball bearings. I'm busy at work, so I can't look for the article now, but if things keep going the way they are now, Russia won't be able to transport its food harvests to its people in 1 to 2 years. There will be starvation in Russia if they don't get their trains fixed. #1) Russia doesn't have enough trucks to transport all the food it needs. #2) If Russia did have enough trucks, it still doesn't have enough roads nor good enough roads to handle all of the trucks it would need to transport all of the food it needs.
The article contains conflicting statements from Zelensky:
Comparing the size of Ukraine's armed forces to other EU countries, Zelensky previously said: "The Ukrainian army is the largest in Europe. The second place after us (France) is four times smaller than us. I think the French have about 200,000. We have 980,000."
Actually, Russia doesn't have any conscripts in Ukraine.
Which is also the reason behind these numbers.
Every single Russian soldier currently in Ukraine has signed some paper consenting to be there. (Whether that signature was really voluntary is another question).
So in theory, Russia still has a vast reserve of conscripts they haven't committed yet.
But in practice, those conscripts are needed to do exactly what the Ukrainian conscripts are doing – protect their home country.
And even Putin doesn't have enough power and support to force conscripts into an aggressive war on foreign soil – that's something only America and Germany have managed so far.
Every single Russian soldier currently in Ukraine has signed some paper consenting to be there. (Whether that signature was really voluntary is another question).
Russia has compulsory conscription twice a year for ages 18-30. There have been plenty of conscripts fighting in Ukraine, I think you are being confused about the mobilizations which are needed because they can legally only conscript so many people at certain times of the year.