President Volodymyr Zelenskyy considers the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) security guarantees for Ukraine the cheapest for Ukraine, Europe, the US and the aggressor country of russia.
Zelenskyy said this during a conversation with representatives of the International Media Council at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"NATO is the cheapest security guarantees for Ukraine, America, Europe and for the russians... NATO is a compromise... Today it is the best and cheapest (option)," he said.
Zelenskyy explained this by the size of the army capable of resisting russia. According to him, Ukraine currently has an army of 800,000 soldiers.
"If there is no NATO, no clear security guarantees or contingent, we should have a million-strong army. And what number can stop them (the russians)? We have experience: we need a million in defense, if he (putin) comes with 1 million-1.5 million. Who will feed a million-strong army? If Europe says that Ukraine is defending not only itself, but also the values of Europe, it is logical: then let's all support this army: weapons, military personnel, their lives, etc. Because Ukraine's budget will not be for a million-strong army. We simply won't have enough of it," he noted.
Zelenskyy called financing Ukraine's restoration and maintaining its army at the expense of USD 250 billion in russian assets frozen in Europe a less painful alternative.
"A less painful alternative is 250 billion russian assets. For something we restore the infrastructure, for something we keep the army until we are in some alliance. Or we will have to pay for this army from the budgets of the US, European colleagues," he said.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Zelenskyy supports the idea of introducing peacekeeping contingents to Ukraine as part of security guarantees and believes that at least 200,000 European peacekeepers are needed to prevent a possible future attack by russia.
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