Ukraine needs determination, speed of world to win – Zelensky in Davos

KYIV. Jan 18 (Interfax-Ukraine) – President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking via video link to the participants of the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), said that Ukraine needs the determination and speed of the whole world to win.

In his address, Zelensky spoke about the tragedy in Brovary, as a result of which a helicopter crash claimed the lives of 14 people, including the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. In this regard, he asked those present at the forum to honor the memory of the victims with a minute of silence.

"It’s only a minute, but it keeps the memory of so many people. Ukraine is experiencing thousands of such minutes. Among them – three minutes on January 14. Three minutes — during this time, a Russian missile traveled hundreds of kilometers, hit a residential quarter of Dnipro and killed at least 45 people. My speech will be brief – about the time that we do not have enough," he said.

He stressed that the modern world does not keep up with changes and challenges, therefore, the list of global, environmental, food and energy crises of the world needs to be supplemented with another one – the crisis of time, and the list of calls for decisive, effective joint action needs to be expanded with a call for the speed of decision-making by the civilized world.

"It took Russia less than one second to start a war. It took the world days to react with the first sanctions. The time that the free world uses for reflection is being used by a terrorist state for murder," the President said.

At the same time, Zelensky noted that during the year of resistance to Russian aggression, the operational actions of Ukraine and its allies were able to bring positive results, in particular, such as the grain deal, the opening of European borders for Ukrainians and energy unity with the EU.

"It saved millions of lives not only in Ukraine. Not only Ukraine, but the whole world needs just such a pace of decisions and actions. The world hesitated in 2014, when Russia occupied Crimea without hesitation. The world was hesitating in 2022, when Russia without hesitation staged a full–scale war. The world should not waver today and always. When evil seeks revenge, the world needs determination and speed," he said.

According to the head of state, the mobilization of peace should be ahead of the next military mobilization of Russia, the supply of air defense systems to Ukraine should be ahead of the next missile strikes of the Russian Federation, the restoration of security and peace in Ukraine should be ahead of Russia’s offensive on security and peace in other countries, the implementation of the Ukrainian Formula of Peace should happen faster than Russia will make its new steps.

"For us, the fact of life is a world in need of decisive and rapid steps," Zelensky said, noting that history always repeats itself: "The world has overcome Nazism, pandemics, indifference to climate change, financial crises and the Kremlin’s tension. The world will win again. It’s time to do it faster."