Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Europe must amass an army of 3 million by 2030 to counter Russia’s projected 2.5 million-strong army by that time.
Unsurprisingly, Zelensky devoted most of his time at the World Economic Forum Summit in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday to warning about Russia and pleading for help for Ukraine‘s war effort. Referring to estimates that Russia’s military buildup could see it achieve an army of 2.5 million soldiers, Zelensky urged Europe to one-up the Kremlin with an army of 3 million.
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“In 2030, Russia will have army of 2.5 million people. They will have it. We will have ceasefire, or we will not have ceasefire. It will be a pause in this war, or, God bless, it will be the end of this war with really strong security guarantees. But we don’t know if Russia will come back, what they need, what [are] their goals? Nobody knows,” Zelensky said.
Zelensky said his suggestion for Europe, “was to have a strong army, not less than 3 million people. And one year ago, I said that we are ready to share all our technologies, what we have, with our partners. We don’t have enough funding to make strong everybody… We don’t have enough money to make us stronger. That’s why what we need to put on the paper the idea of common big forces.”
“Better not to use them, but to have them. And I think, as I said, that Europe has such leaders, but not all of them, but they need to make some decisions, some strong decisions. This is my opinion,” he concluded.
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The Ukrainian president was presumably arguing that all European Union militaries combined, plus the United Kingdom, should total three million soldiers at a minimum. This would take a gargantuan effort, as currently the combined number of European soldiers reaches only 1.5 million, equal to Russia’s. To reach Zelensky’s target, Europe would need to mobilize on a scale not seen since World War II, doubling its armed forces.
Further complicating this problem are the demographic and financial issues facing Europe. Its top militaries — Germany, France, and the U.K. — are all facing major financial crises over their aging populations and unsustainable welfare states. To raise such a massive army would require massive boosts in military spending, to the detriment of social spending.