Ukraine's Klitschko upbeat about new weapons after Davos talks

DAVOS - Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said he had “very good and positive signals” that new weapons would be announced for Ukraine at a meeting of the country’s Western allies in Germany on Friday.

The former heavyweight boxer had been at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week as part of a large Ukrainian delegation that is lobbying for more financial aid and modern weapons.

“Let’s pay attention in two days,” Mr Klitschko told AFP on Wednesday, referring to a meeting of Ukraine’s backers at the US-run Ramstein military base in Germany.

“I hope it will be very positive for Ukraine. Unofficially, I have very good and positive signals.”

He added: “We need modern weapons. Ukrainian soldiers are very motivated in this war, but motivation is not enough. We need modern weapons to defend our homeland from aggression.”

Amid

rising pressure on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

to authorise the export of heavy German-made Leopard tanks to Ukraine, Mr Klitschko said they “would be very helpful.”

Mr Scholz is set to address delegates in person in Davos later in the afternoon, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

set to follow via videolink

shortly afterwards.

Mr Klitschko also paid tribute to Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky,

who died in a helicopter crash outside Kyiv

on Wednesday, calling him a “young, very creative, good person”.

He said Mr Monastyrsky was flying to the scene of a Russian missile attack on the city of Dnipro on Saturday when his helicopter came down, killing 16 people including three children.

“It’s a big tragedy... In the next couple of days, we will know exactly the reason why this crash happened,” he told AFP.

AFP