Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke before the World Economic Forum in Davos in a brief and maudlin speech. He began by referring to the recent helicopter accident that killed the Ukrainian Interior Minister and his delegation, as well as three children who died when the helicopter crashed into a kindergarten. Zelenskyy called for a moment of silence.
After this bit of melodrama, he went on about how the Ukrainians need aid and are determined to win. During a short Q&A with the propitiatory CNN anchor Fareed Zakaria, he tried to explain what Zakaria called the stalemate after Ukraine’s early advances by saying that winter set in and slowed the pace of movement (although reports have it that Russian troops are on the move after taking Soledar). Zelenskyy also reiterated that Ukraine would join NATO and expressed satisfaction that Kissinger had changed his tune on the matter. When asked what role he felt that Russia should play in the world after this conflict, he paused a bit, then said that Russia has already taken on its role as a terrorist nation. He then added that the Russian people must reflect on the damage they have done in this conflict.
Ukraine’s “we want more weapons” charm offensive at Davos included Zelenskyy’s wife Olena Zelenska, who used a special address to demand that those attending use their influence to get more aid to Ukraine. “This war can go further, and make crises wider, if the aggressor does not lose,” Zelenska stated.
According to London’s daily Guardian, she brought three letters from her husband to hand to Alain Berset, the president of the Swiss Confederation, to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and for China’s President Xi Jinping, which has been handed to Vice Premier Liu He, who is in attendance.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko urged the country’s allies to step up supplies of military hardware so that Russia could be more quickly defeated. Asked what was next for Ukraine, Svyrydenko could only reply: “What’s next is success. Russia won’t achieve its goal and we will definitely win this war.”
