Zelensky: Without the U.S., Putin will devastate Europe, as it won't be able to stand against him and North Korea.

If the United States withdraws from NATO, Putin will devastate Europe, as it is unprepared for a large-scale war against Russian aggression, both militarily and morally. While Europeans are reluctant to engage in combat, Russia is bolstering its forces in collaboration with North Korea.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made this statement in an interview with American podcaster Lex Friedman, explaining the significance of U.S. involvement in security guarantees for Ukraine.

"For instance, North Korea. 12,000 have come, and to date, 3,800 of them have been killed or injured. They could bring another 30,000 to 40,000. Or even 500,000. They can bring as many people as they want because they operate under orders, an autocracy. Can Europe gather people? No. Can Europe assemble an army that could consist of 2 to 3 million? No. Because Europe won't want to do that. 'There’s no aim to gather everyone, because we don’t want any war. We just want to stop the Russians.' And they (the Russians. – Mind) are inviting North Korean soldiers," Zelensky explained, adding that Russian troops are burning the faces of North Koreans to prevent their identification, as we wrote earlier.

"Europe counts the number of people. They (the Russians) do not count. Can they deploy more people, tens of thousands? Yes," the president noted.

"Last year, Europe provided us with 1 million artillery shells; it was their initiative, 155mm caliber, etc. We produced more. But North Korea supplied Putin with 3.7 million shells. Although he also has a shortage [of shells] today. This means he needs time," Zelensky said.

"If the U.S. exits NATO, Putin will destroy Europe. Count the size of the army in Europe. Consider why Hitler nearly conquered all of Europe, remember his million-strong armies. What does Europe have? What are the largest armies? We have the largest army in Europe, the Ukrainian one. The second largest after us is four times smaller. – France? – Yes, the French have around 200,000 [military personnel]. And we have 980 [thousand military personnel]," the Ukrainian president provided the figures.

Background. Recall that while discussing the Budapest Memorandum, Zelensky stated that "everyone was indifferent to this country." After the occupation of parts of Donbas and Crimea, Ukraine sent letters for several years to all countries that signed the memorandum, but no one responded, the president recounted.