Ukraine Announces Plan to Boost Army, Europeans Rally Behind Zelenskiy

Ukraine Announces Plan to Boost Army, Europeans Rally Behind Zelenskiy
A service member walks past tanks of a mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during military exercises outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Jan. 31, 2022. Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Reuters
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KYIV—President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree on Tuesday to boost Ukraine’s armed forces by 100,000 troops over three years and raise soldiers’ pay, as European leaders lined up to back him in a standoff with Russia.

Zelenskiy urged lawmakers to stay calm and avoid panic, saying he ordered the increase “not because we will soon have a war... but so that soon and in the future there will be peace in Ukraine.”