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Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom has told CGTN Europe that his country needs more military equipment from Western states, insisting, "We are not out-manned, we are out-equipped."
"There is much-needed equipment we need right now," Vadym Prystaiko told CGTN. "We will do it ourselves, but we need equipment."
On Monday, the European Union agreed a preliminary deal to conduct military training in Ukraine. That agreement was, according to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, not about "combat forces."
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However, on Wednesday, the UK pledged to send a new package of military aid, "in the light of the increasingly threatening behavior from Russia," said the UK's Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This will include "lethal aid" in the form of defensive weapons.
Prystaiko was quick to correct the idea that his country is out-gunned and out-manned.
"We are not out-manned," he insisted. "Our army right now is 250,000 people – we will bring another 100,000. We're not out-manned. We're out-equipped. That's the reality on the ground.
"We are not stupid or cocky. We understand the grave danger, probably a life-threatening danger, to the statehood. But that's how we took the decision to survive and build up our own state."
You can watch more from the interview on The Agenda with Stephen Cole, this Saturday at 16:30GMT