Ukraine must step up its military mobilization and send more men and women to fight Russia, according to US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
Sullivan says more Ukrainians must be physically involved in the fighting if Russia is to be defeated on the battlefield, and rejects the argument that US weapons are crucial to Kiev’s success.
– Have we seen a marked difference since we have provided tanks to Ukraine in terms of the battlefield? Similarly, on F-16s, have we seen a marked difference? he asks.
– It’s about manpower, and Ukraine needs to do more, in our view, to firm up its lines in terms of the number of forces it has on the front lines, he said.Where is the straightest line between Ukrainian performance and inputs? It’s on mobilization and manpower, he states.
Exactly how many Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or disabled in the war is difficult to estimate, but many observers say the losses have left Kiev with a severe shortage of trained soldiers.
Pointing to North Korean mobilisation
The message from Moscow has long been that Western military support can only prolong the war – not change its outcome – and that Kiev should have agreed to Russia’s terms in the ceasefire proposal negotiated in Istanbul in 2022.
Instead, it is argued, Mr. Zelensky has chosen to follow the orders of the US and its allies, who intend to fight “to the last Ukrainian” in order to inflict maximum damage on Russia – whatever the cost to their own people.
Jake Sullivan’s call for increased Ukrainian mobilization is based on reports that thousands of North Korean troops have now been sent to the frontline in Russia’s Kursk region, and that Zelenskyi has warned that control of the region is at risk unless the West supplies even more weapons.
According to Moscow, up to 34,000 Ukrainian troops have been killed and thousands of heavy weapons destroyed in the Kursk offensive alone, but Ukraine has not commented on its losses in detail.
