See the size of the military forces of Russia, Ukraine and NATO

Since Russia started the war against Ukraine on Thursday (24), there have been doubts about how well the troops coordinated by Kiev will be able to resist the attacks, given that Moscow has one of the largest military structures on the planet.

The Russians invaded the neighboring country mainly in retaliation for the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) — Russia considers the arrival of the Western military alliance to its borders a threat.

Kiev, like much of the world, is interested in NATO’s principle of collective defense, in which Western bloc troops pledge to defend any club country that is under attack. In practice, this puts smaller nations under the protection of military giants like the United States.

However, as Ukraine is not part of NATO, the country has improvised to face the Russian attack and asked the population to come forward to fight. He also taught on TV how to make homemade bombs, like Molotov cocktails, to drop on enemies.

So far, at least in American eyes, it has had an effect. Pentagon sources told the AFP news agency that the Russian incursion had lost strength in the face of Ukrainian resistance, as it still failed to take major cities or control airspace.

Compare, below, the size of the military forces of Russia, Ukraine and NATO.