Zelensky mourns Ukraine’s dead, urges world leaders to move faster
DAVOS, Switzerland — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told political leaders at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supplies of Western weapons must come quicker than Russia’s attacks, urging the world to move faster because “tragedies are outpacing life; the tyranny is outpacing democracy.”
Zelensky, speaking by video link from Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, said the world needs to react more rapidly to challenges like global security, climate change, hunger and energy, warning that in the war, “the time the free world uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill.”
He said his allies must not hesitate: “The supplying of Ukraine with air defense systems must outpace Russia’s vast missile attacks. The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks.”
Zelensky spoke after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described the world as being in a “sorry state” because of interlinked challenges including climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine that are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash.”
The gloom hung on the second day of the elite gathering of world leaders and corporate executives in the Swiss ski resort of Davos after a helicopter crashed into a kindergarten in Ukraine, killing more than a dozen people, including Ukraine’s interior minister.
Zelensky stood and asked for a moment of silence for the victims. There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, but he said that “every individual, every death is a result of war.”
The death toll from the Ukraine war’s deadliest attack on civilians at one location since last spring has reached 45, officials said.
His wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, earlier called it “another very sad day,” dabbing teary eyes, then telling Davos attendees that “we can also change this negative situation for the better.”
The Ukrainian delegation to Davos, including Zelenska, has been pushing for more aid, including increasingly advanced weapons, from international allies to fight Russia.
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Shortly before Zelensky spoke, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated that Germany was one of the top suppliers of military equipment to Ukraine, just behind the U.S. and Britain, when asked why he had not sent tanks to the war-torn country.
Though Germany has provided air-defense systems and armored personnel carriers, Scholz — the only leader to attend Davos from the Group of 7 biggest economies — is facing pressure to send tanks to help Ukraine.
“We will continue to support Ukraine — for as long as necessary,” Scholz said.
In Ukraine, a bleak winter lies ahead for combatants and civilians alike, as its army strives to maintain battlefield momentum against Russian forces.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s Western backers this week will discuss ways to supply heavier and more advanced weapons.
“The main message there will be: more support, more advanced support, heavier weapons and more modern weapons,” Stoltenberg said of a gathering in Germany of top defense officials, including U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III, who work to coordinate military contributions to Ukraine.
“This is a fight for our values, this is a fight for democracy — and we just have to prove that democracy wins over tyranny and oppression,” the NATO leader added.
Guterres, in his address, said the “gravest levels of geopolitical division and mistrust in generations” are undermining efforts to tackle global problems, which also include widening inequality, a cost-of-living crisis sparked by soaring inflation and an energy crunch, lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and more.
The U.N. chief singled out climate change as an “existential challenge,” and said a global commitment to limit Earth’s temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius — 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit — “is nearly going up in smoke.”
Guterres, who has been one of the most outspoken world figures on climate change, referenced a recent study that found scientists at Exxon Mobil made remarkably accurate predictions about the effects of climate change as far back as the 1970s, even as the company publicly questioned whether warming was real.
Internal research by Exxon Mobil accurately predicted global warming due to the burning of fossil fuels, yet publicly denied the connection.
“We learned last week that certain fossil fuel producers were fully aware in the 1970s that their core product was baking our planet,” he said in his speech. “Some in Big Oil peddled the big lie.”
Critics have questioned the importance of the four-day meeting where politicians, CEOs and other leaders discuss the world’s problems — and make deals on the sidelines — but where concrete action is harder to measure. Environmentalists, for example, decry the carbon-spewing private jets that ferry bigwigs to an event that prioritizes the battle against climate change.
Government officials, corporate titans, academics and activists were attending dozens of panel sessions on topics covering the metaverse, environmental greenwashing and artificial intelligence.
Ukraine has taken center stage as the anniversary of the war nears. When Zelensky was asked about engaging in a dialogue with Russia, he said that “they will have to recognize their own mistakes, they will have to recognize Ukrainian stat-utes, and they will have to really respect our territorial integrity.”
NATO’s leader says supplying Ukraine more equipment long term will help force Russian President Vladimir Putin to negotiate. “It is very dangerous to underestimate Russia,” Stoltenberg warned. “Weapons — they are the way to peace,” but they must come quickly.
Zelensky has made daily pleas for more advanced weapons, escalating his requests as Russia introduces new tactics and weapons against the much smaller Ukrainian army. Western countries have heeded the calls, although often with a delay and not in the number sought.
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Guterres was not optimistic that the conflict could end soon.
“I do not see the end of the war in the immediate future,” he said. Deep historical differences between Russia and Ukraine make it more difficult to find a solution based on international law and that respects territorial integrity, he said.
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