‘Europe looks lost’: Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says to European leaders – National
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticized his European allies on Thursday for what he described as the continent’s slow, fragmented and inadequate response to Russia’s aggression nearly four years ago and its continued international violence.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy listed a number of complaints and criticisms of Europe that he said abandoned Ukraine at the mercy of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid the ongoing US peace process.
“Europe looks lost,” Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to become a world power. He compared Europe’s reaction to Washington’s bold moves in Venezuela and Iran.
The former comic actor refers to the movie “Day of the Pigs,” where the main character has to live the same day over and over again.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with these words: Europe needs to be able to defend itself. The year is over. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I have to say the same words again,” said Zelenskyy.
He said Ukrainians also seem to be caught up in the war, “repeating the same thing for weeks, months, and years, but that’s the way we live now. It’s our life.”
His speech came after an hour-long closed-door meeting in Davos with US President Donald Trump, who described the talks as “very good.” Zelenskyy called them “productive and purposeful.”
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European countries, seeing their future defense at risk in the war in the east, have offered financial, military and humanitarian support to Kyiv, but not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine is also frustrated by political disagreements within Europe over how to deal with Russia, and the bloc’s sometimes slow responses.
Russia’s main army has managed to capture almost 20 percent of Ukraine since the conflict began in 2014 and its full invasion by 2022. But the battlefield gains along the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the effects of the war and international sanctions.
Ukraine is short of money and, despite greatly improving its weapons production, still needs Western weapons. It is also short handed on the front line. The defense minister last week reported that 200,000 soldiers had been abandoned and about 2 million Ukrainians had been sentenced.
Zelenskyy also strives to keep the world’s attention focused on Ukraine despite other conflicts.
He criticized Europe for being slow to make important decisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russian “shadow ships” of oil tankers that violate international sanctions, and not agreeing to use its frozen assets in Europe to support Ukraine, among other things.
He said that Europe “still feels like a country, a history, a culture, not a real political power, not a great power.”
“Some people in Europe are really strong, it’s true, but many say we should be strong, and they want someone else to tell them how long they should be strong, preferably until the next election,” he said.
The Trump administration is pushing for a peace deal, with its envoys shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow for a series of worrisome talks that could force Ukraine into a bad deal.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected in Moscow later Thursday for further talks with Putin.
One major issue remains to be resolved in the talks, Witkoff said in Davos, without saying what it was. Zelenskyy said the future status of the land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia has not been resolved but that peace proposals are “ready.”
Post-war security guarantees, should an agreement be reached, are being agreed upon between the US and Ukraine, although they will need to be ratified by each country, he said.
Zelenskyy said there will be two-day meetings involving the US, Ukraine and Russia that will begin in the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
“Russians should be ready to compromise because, you know, everyone should be ready, not only Ukraine, and this is important for us,” he said.
Trump and Zelenskyy have had a strained relationship, and the US president has sometimes reprimanded Putin.
Zelenskyy said he thanked Trump for providing US-made Patriot air defense systems that could help stop Russian missiles that repeatedly hit Ukraine’s power grid, causing hardship for people who are denied electricity, heating and running water. He said he asked Trump to give them some.
After Trump cut off support for Ukraine, some NATO countries began buying weapons from the US to donate to Kyiv under a special financial arrangement.
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