'Dictators don't go on holiday,' Zelensky warns Washington and Europe
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine called on world leaders not to abandon his country, citing the recent death of a Russian dissident as a reminder that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia would continue to challenge the international order, and would continue to oppose the idea of a negotiated solution to the war.
Mr. Zelensky said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that if Ukraine were to lose the war against Russia, it would be “catastrophic” not only for Kiev but also for other countries.
“Please don't ask Ukraine when the war will end,” he said. “Ask yourself why Putin can still continue this.”
The two topics that have emerged in almost every discussion at the annual meeting of world leaders are Russia and the potential weakening of transatlantic ties, amid an increasingly pessimistic assessment of Kiev's ability to defeat Moscow.
Mr. Zelensky's speech on Saturday came as Ukrainian forces withdrew from an old stronghold, Avdiivkagiving Russian forces their first significant victory in almost a year.
And it came a day after conference attendees were shocked by the news that prominent dissident Aleksei A. Navalny had died in a Russian penal colony in the Arctic. It was a stark reminder, Mr. Zelensky warned, of how Moscow would continue to test the Western-backed rules-based international order.
“This is Russia's war against any rule,” Mr. Zelensky said. “But how long will the world let Russia stay like this? That is the most important question today.”
Mr Zelensky's impassioned appeal was in dramatic contrast to his last appearance in Munich two years ago. At the time, an invasion seemed inevitable, but European officials continued to insist, despite satellite evidence of the massive force, that Putin was bluffing. Even Mr. Zelensky, in his public appearance on the same stage he used on Saturday, had said he did not believe Mr. Putin would dare attack.
This year, Mr Zelensky's message was that the death of Mr Navalny on Fridayand the evidence of Russia's military buildup should also lead Europeans to believe that Mr. Putin would not stop at Ukraine's borders.
Speaking to reporters at the conference, European and American officials said they saw no evidence for now that Mr Putin wants to draw NATO troops into the war. But European leaders have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that a victory for Putin could embolden him to test NATO's resolve, especially if U.S. commitment to the alliance falters.
The mood among many at the conference was deeply pessimistic, with European leaders consumed by discussions about how to ensure their own security after November's US presidential election, which could mean another term for former President Donald J. Trump, who last week called for Russian aggression against the NATO members who did not pay their fair share.
And European officials have repeatedly pressed their American counterparts over Washington's inability so far to approve a $60 billion U.S. aid package for Ukraine. passed the Senate but could still be thwarted by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
“People are looking at us with disbelieving eyes,” a leader of the U.S. delegation here, who did not want to speak on the record, said Saturday morning. “We have talked about leading this fight, and we have spent the last two days telling the Europeans that they need to come up with a Plan B to arm Ukraine.”
These discussions also include the possibility of, among other things, having Germany buy American weapons and deliver them to the Ukrainian front if Congress does not find the money. But at the same time, military officials are talking to the Ukrainians about new technologies, including the possibility of helping with new generations of drones that could fly in swarms into Russian rail yards.
In recent weeks, a debate has also raged over whether European countries should establish their own nuclear deterrent beyond that of Washington and NATO.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in his own comments on Saturday that such talks were “not useful”. Any questioning of NATO's nuclear umbrella, he argued, “would only undermine NATO at a time when we really need credible deterrence.”
Vice President Kamala Harris said Saturday after a meeting with Zelensky that her and President Biden's support was “unyielding and unending.”
“Political games play no part in what is fundamentally about the meaning of supporting an ally as it tolerates unprovoked aggression,” she said, referring to Republicans in Congress' blocking of the US aid package to Ukraine.
In turn, Mr. Zelenskiy urged her to build an American consensus on support for Ukraine. “We need your unity now,” he said.
In his speech, Mr Zelensky argued that it was a “myth” that Ukraine could not win. “We can get our country back and Putin can lose.”
But he emphasized that with the House of Representatives in a two-week recess without approving aid to Ukraine, there is no time to waste: “Everyone remember that dictators don't go on vacation.”