Ukraine's military wants to mobilize up to 500,000 more troops to fight Russia's invasion, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday that he has asked them to spell out their plans in detail on what is “a very sensitive matter” before deciding whether he grants their wish as the war approaches the two-year mark.
Such a major mobilization would cost Ukraine around 500 billion hryvnias ($13.4 billion), Zelenskyy said. Other aspects to be considered include whether troops currently on the front line would be rotated or allowed home leave after almost 22 months of full-scale war.
Ukrainian Ministry of Defense statistics say the Ukrainian army had nearly 800,000 troops in October. That doesn't include National Guard or other units. In total, 1 million Ukrainians are in uniform.
Earlier this month, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million.
Russia, Ukraine’s far bigger neighbor, outguns and outnumbers Kyiv’s forces.
The around 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line has barely budged this year as a Ukrainian counteroffensive ran up against sturdy Russian defenses. Now, with winter setting in, troop movements are being slowed by bad weather, placing grater emphasis on the use of artillery, missiles and drones.
Putin said earlier Tuesday that the Kremlin’s forces have taken the initiative in Ukraine and is well positioned for the coming year.
Zelenskyy, speaking at a year-end news conference, insisted that the Kremlin's forces had failed in their efforts to occupy more of Ukraine since their full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.
It wasn't possible to independently verify battlefield claims by either side.
Zelenskyy said that Ukraine has received additional Patriot surface-to-air systems and advanced NASAMS anti-aircraft systems, providing medium- to long-range defense against Russian missile attacks, but declined to provide more details.
They will help fend off expected Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid over the winter.
Amid signs of war fatigue among Ukraine’s Western allies, Zelenskyy said that he was confident that the United States and European Union would make good on their promises of providing Ukraine with more military and financial support next year — a crucial issue for Kyiv as it fights its larger foe.
In other developments:
— The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, said Tuesday that his agency has confirmed more than 10,000 civilian deaths in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion started. The number includes more than 560 children, he said.
“The true toll is probably substantially higher,” he said.
Also, Türk said that his office is investigating six new reported cases of Russian soldiers allegedly killing civilians in Ukraine.
Since the start of all-out war in Ukraine, the Russian military has repeatedly used missiles to blast civilian targets across the country, with devastating consequences.
— The toll the war is taking on the Ukrainian economy was clear in figures published Tuesday that showed the volume of Ukraine’s goods exports through November was 19.3% lower than in the same period last year.
The drop was due largely to Russia’s “blockade of seaports and Russian attacks on our export transport logistics,” Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko tweeted.
However, a recent uptick in sea exports came after Ukraine created a temporary grain corridor in the Black Sea and introduced a ship insurance mechanism, she said, adding that the growth bodes well for next year.
