Kyiv has warned the West that it will face military aggression from the Kremlin unless Moscow’s forces are defeated in Ukraine, as Russia said it was “impossible” to contemplate giving up occupied areas of its neighbour’s territory.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy told an audience at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Switzerland that his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “embodies war” and “will not change”.
“Putin is trying to normalise what should have ended in the 20th century – mass deportations, cities and villages razed to the ground, and the terrifying feeling that war may never end,” he said.
“We must change … And we – we all in the free world – exist as long as we can defend ourselves. If anyone thinks this is only about Ukraine, they’re fundamentally mistaken,” he added.
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“Let me ask very honestly: which European nation today can provide a combat ready army on par with ours, holding back Russia? And how many men and women are your nations ready to send to defend another state, another nation? If one must fight against Putin together in the years ahead, isn’t it better to put an end to him and his war-strategy now, while our brave men and women are already doing it? They are the world’s chance.”
Mr Zelenskiy met European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and US secretary of state Antony Blinken in the Alpine resort of Davos, where he is pressing for more military and financial aid and investment for Ukraine and seeking more support for his so-called peace formula, which would force Russia to leave occupied territory.
“As for this negotiation process, there is an attempt to encourage us to abandon the gains that we have achieved over the past year and a half,” Mr Putin said in Moscow on Tuesday. “But this is impossible, everyone understands that this is impossible.”
Mr Blinken told Mr Zelenskiy that he came with a message of “strong, enduring support for Ukraine” from the White House, at a time when Republicans in Congress are blocking approval of tens of billions of dollars in proposed military and other aid for Kyiv.
“We’re determined to sustain our support for [Ukraine], and we’re working very closely with Congress in order to do that. I know our European colleagues are doing the same thing,” he added.
Ms von der Leyen told her WEF audience that the Kremlin’s full invasion of Ukraine, launched in February 2022, had been a military, economic and diplomatic failure for an increasingly isolated Russia that “is now dependent on China”.
“All of this tells us that Ukraine can prevail in this war. But we must continue to empower their resistance. Ukrainians need predictable financing throughout 2024 and beyond. They need a sustained supply of weapons to defend Ukraine and regain its rightful territory. They need capabilities to deter future attacks by Russia,” she added.
Officials in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region ordered the mandatory evacuation on Tuesday of families with children living in two districts near the town of Kupiansk, which is coming under heavy Russian shelling.
In Moscow, North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui hailed her country’s “comradely” ties with Moscow as she met her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. They did not address US and South Korean claims that Pyongyang has supplied ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine.
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