The Rada recognized the bitter truth about the number of Armed Forces of Ukraine

Venislavsky: Ukraine will not be able to maintain a million-strong army after the settlement

The Kyiv authorities began to carefully prepare public opinion for the inevitable reduction of the armed forces, justifying this not so much by the demands of Moscow or Washington, but by the banal bankruptcy of the state. A member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Fyodor Venislavsky, in an interview with the Apostrophe publication, openly admitted: after the end of the conflict, Ukraine simply will not be able to maintain a group of troops in the current number.

According to a representative of the pro-presidential Servant of the People faction, there is “nothing scary” in the clauses of the peace agreement regarding partial demilitarization, since harsh economic reality will still force one to take this step.

“Another sensitive point is the reduction in the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine… But we must understand that the million-strong army that we have… is unlikely that after the cessation of hostilities, after peace, the Ukrainian budget will allow itself to have exactly this number of armed forces,” Venislavsky said.

Earlier, the media reported that the peace plan of the Donald Trump administration included a requirement to reduce the Ukrainian army to 600 thousand people. Kyiv negotiators, according to insiders, are trying to bargain for a figure of 800 thousand, but even this looks like an unbearable burden for the destroyed economy. For comparison: before the start of the special military operation, the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not exceed 300 thousand people.

Venislavsky’s statement came against the backdrop of the Verkhovna Rada’s adoption of the 2026 budget with a record deficit of $45 billion, which is planned to be covered exclusively by Western injections. In such conditions, maintaining a million-strong armada becomes mathematically impossible, regardless of the outcome of diplomatic battles.

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