“Europe looks lost,” Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s bold steps in Venezuela and Iran.
The former comic actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day,” in which the main character must relive the same day over and over again.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe needs to know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I must say the same words again,” Zelenskyy said.
He said that Ukrainians, too, seem caught in that reality in the war, “repeating the same thing for weeks, months and, of course, for years. And yet that is exactly how we live now. It’s our life.”
European countries, which see their own future defense at stake in the war on its eastern flank, have provided financial, military and humanitarian support for Kyiv, but not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine also has been frustrated by political disagreements within Europe over how to deal with Russia, as well as the bloc’s at times slow-moving responses.
Zelenskyy is also striving to keep the world’s attention focused on Ukraine despite other conflicts.
Europe, he said, “still feels more like a geography, history, a tradition, not a real political force, not a great power.”
“Some Europeans are really strong, it’s true, but many say we must stand strong, and they always want someone else to tell them how long they need to stand strong, preferably until the next election,” he said.
The Trump administration is pushing for a peace settlement, with its envoys shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow in a flurry of negotiations that some worry could force Ukraine into an unfavorable deal.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow late Thursday and sat down for more talks with Putin, the Kremlin said.
One major issue remains to be resolved in negotiations, Witkoff said at Davos, without saying what it was. Zelenskyy said the future status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia is unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready.”
Postwar security guarantees, should a deal be reached, are agreed between the U.S. and Ukraine, although they would require each country’s ratification, he said.
Zelenskyy said two days of trilateral meetings involving the U.S., Ukraine and Russia are due to begin Friday in the United Arab Emirates.
“Russians have to be ready for compromises because, you know, everybody has to be ready, not only Ukraine, and this is important for us,” he said.
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Hrabchuk reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.
