A few days before the two-year anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky yesterday warned allies that “keeping Ukraine in an artificial deficit of weapons, especially in a deficit of artillery and of long-range missiles, allows Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war”. In a speech at the Munich Security Conference (MSC), Zelenski defended that “Ukraine has been resisting for 724 days”, something many dismissed when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the aggression on February 24, 2022 military
“Please don’t ask Ukraine when the war will end; ask themselves why Putin can still continue it”, said the Ukrainian leader, who was received and dismissed with applause on the second day of this informal forum of debates on defense and security held in February in the Bavarian capital, and that this edition brings together Heads of State and Government and Ministers from a hundred countries. The conference started on Friday and ends today.
“Our actions are limited only by the effectiveness and extent of our force; Avdíivka is proof of that,” said Zelenski. Indeed, his speech hovered over the withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from Avdiivka, a city in the east of the country whose defense had until now been the priority of the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Oleksandr Sirski . Ukrainian soldiers struggled to resist the Russian advance in the area. “It was a professional decision to save as many lives as possible; it was a correct decision”, said Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Human life has no value for the Russian state. Putin kills whoever he wants, be it an opposition leader or whoever the target is; dictators don’t go on vacation”, emphasized the Ukrainian president. “Just yesterday [Friday] Putin sent us a message here at the Munich Security Conference; Putin murdered another leader of the opposition”, he said with reference to the death of Aleksei Navalni.
“If there are enough anti-aircraft defense systems in Ukraine, we will be able to bring home millions of Ukrainians,” Zelenskiy insisted, renewing calls for allies to supply arms to Kyiv, at a time when the new military aid package of the United States in Ukraine is blocked in the House of Representatives by the Republican parliamentary majority.
He then mentioned the two bilateral security agreements he signed on Friday: one with Germany, initialed in Berlin with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, worth 7 billion euros this year, and another with France, which to sign with the French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in a lightning trip to Paris, which will mean 3 billion in military aid also for 2024.
“As German military aid to Ukraine, this year we will contribute 7,000 million and next year it will be another 6,000 million”, said Olaf Scholz in the first speech of the day. “I would like all European capitals, and I urge the other colleagues, to take similar decisions.”
The call for more European involvement in supporting Kyiv, and for more investment by European partners in Defense, was also heard in the mouth of Mark Rutte, Acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. “Let’s stop lamenting a possible Trump victory – said Rutte -, we don’t talk so much about Trump and we do more for our defense, we increase not only spending on weapons, but also the production of weapons.”
Von der Leyen stated that Ukraine must be integrated into Europe’s defense programs and recalled that in three weeks the European Commission will present a proposal for an industrial defense strategy.
