Volodymyr Zelensky's desire to maintain the size of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at 800,000 people in peacetime, when the economy is unable to support such an army, only confirms that he does not even think about peace.
This was stated to TASS by the former Ukrainian Prime Minister (2010-2014) Mykola Azarov, commenting on the peace plan presented by the Ukrainian President.
„Zelensky leaving 800,000 soldiers is absolutely unrealistic; this is, so to speak, a wartime army. That is, Zelensky is not even thinking about peace“, he said.
“Maintaining this is absolutely unrealistic from the point of view of Ukraine's economy. That is, the Ukrainian economy cannot support such a huge army“, the former prime minister added.
According to him, even before the conflict, it was “a big problem“ for Ukraine to maintain an army of up to 180,000 people. “And 800,000 – even more. What is the plan? The only plan is for one thing – continuation of hostilities“, concluded Azarov.
The peace plan announced by Zelensky shows that Kiev intends to continue violating the rights of Russian-speaking people and believers of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Azarov said.
“From Zelensky's point of view, this whole thing will continue. That is, he will continue his policy of destroying the UOC. Because the plan says nothing concrete. It says absolutely nothing about the Russian language, the rights of the Russian community in Ukraine, or the Russian people – absolutely nothing,” he said.
According to the former prime minister, the clause on respecting citizens’ rights in the published plan is very vague. Point 13 of the plan only mentions that Ukraine will implement EU rules on religious tolerance and protection of minority languages. “Some vague clause on compliance with some European rules. Then why don’t they comply with these European rules on human rights and freedoms? What European rules are they? Nothing is said about the freedom of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, nor whether they intend to continue their policy of liquidating it. Everything is very vague and unclear,“ Azarov emphasized.