Zelensky recalled that in 2025 he spoke about joint united armed forces of Europe because of the threat from the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, which in five years intends to have an army of 2–2.5 million people.
“Therefore, an army in Europe, taking into account, of course, that each country will have its own sovereign army, but united armed forces ready to respond,” the president noted. “I addressed this proposal to the leaders, at least of Europe, last year. A year has passed, I’ll be honest, no one has taken a single step towards this idea. Maybe now, because of all these challenges, the leaders of Europe will think a little about it.”
At the same time, Zelensky emphasized that the united army of Europe does not mean competition with the United States.
“No, it’s just that Europe is a separate continent, which must have its own separate strong army. This does not mean that NATO can be destroyed, no, under no circumstances. This is separate. The Armed Forces of Europe,” the president said.
According to him, Ukraine will certainly be “one of the fundamental contributions” to strengthening such an army.
“It can happen if the leaders support such an idea. And here we are not only talking about the army, which should consist, in my opinion, of no less than 3 million people, but about the fact that this is an exchange of technologies, which are very important,” Zelensky explained.
Context
On January 5, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Europe could “end” without unity. “No one will take a weak and divided Europe seriously: neither enemy nor ally. This is already clear… One for all and all for one. Otherwise, we are finished,” the Polish prime minister noted.
His statement came against the backdrop of escalating US actions in Venezuela, Politico noted.
After this, US President Donald Trump again publicly spoke about the possibility of establishing control over Greenland, a self-governing territory that is formally part of the Kingdom of Denmark and in which he has long shown interest. According to Trump, the island is key to US national security.
He also said that the US could use military force to take over Greenland.
On January 13, Greenland's Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said that between the United States and Denmark, the country chooses Denmark and “does not want” to belong to, be part of, or be governed by the United States.
On January 19, Politico wrote about a new military alliance in Europe, which could include Ukraine.
