Defense Minister Touts Million-Strong Army, Call Branded As Rallying Cry

Ukraine is aware that Russia continues to be on the offensive, a reason why it needs to keep its guard up.

To do so, they need a formidable army to stand up against the Russian onslaught and Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov warns that there is a million-strong army equipped with Nato weapons ready to fight off the Russian threat.

The claim of having a million-strong army is daunting but is however seen more as a rallying cry than a concrete plan.

This developed even as Russia continues to advance and makes gains in the Donbas region, as Moscow troops continue to pound on areas across Ukraine, BBC reported.

On his part, Reznikov says that among their plans is to retake the Black Sea coast. He believed that this would be vital to the country’s economy.

In an interview, the Ukraine Defense Minister mentioned that the delivery of weapons needs to be sped up. He also lauded the UK for being a key in the transition, providing Ukraine with Soviet-era weapons to the more effective Nato-standard air defense 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," Reznikov stated. "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."

But in the eyes of some analysts, the call is more like a rallying cry. In the eyes of Dr. Jack Watling, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, the figure of one million should be taken at face value.

"Normally you would want operational surprise when you launch a counter-attack, so announcing it publicly is partly about forcing the Russians to have to commit resources more widely to guard against this threat," Watling stated.