Ukraine Defence Minister: 1m people defending country

Around one million people are involved in defending Ukraine right now, Oleksiy Reznikov, the country’s Defence Minister, said during a Forbes conference.

Around 700,000 people are fighting within Ukraine’s armed forces. The National Guard has up to 90,000 combatants, the country’s police employs up to 100,000 officers, and over 60,000 frontier guards are also defending Ukraine.

The country’s army only had 250,000 people before the Russian invasion. President Zelensky announced having about 700,000 combatants in late May. It was then when Reznikov announced the Defence Ministry was going to arm one million citizens to repel the Russian invaders.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence never mentioned how many servicemen were involved. Proekt, declared “an undesired organisation” in Russia, reported the Russian army having 794,000 service members in February 2020. Over 2.6 million people were employed by various law enforcement and security agencies back then, including 340,000 National Guard soldiers who are now also used in the Ukraine War.