Ukraine aims to amass ‘million-strong army’ to retake south

Ukraine plans a “million-strong army” equipped with Nato weapons to retake the south of the country from occupying Russians, the defence minister says.

Retaking the areas around the Black Sea coast was vital to the country’s economy, Oleksii Reznikov said.

The defence minister’s remarks come as Russia makes progress in taking territory in the eastern Donbas region.

In his interview with The Times newspaper, Mr Reznikov praised the UK for being “key” in the transition from providing Ukraine with Soviet-era weapons to Nato-standard air defence systems and ammunition.

“We need more, quickly, to save the lives of our soldiers. Each day we’re waiting for howitzers, we can lose a hundred soldiers,” he said.

“We have approximately 700,000 in the armed forces and when you add the national guard, police, border guard, we are around a million-strong,” the defence minister said.

Photo circulated by Ukrainian MOD

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