Zelensky to address Davos gathering in marathon week of diplomacy

KYIV – A critical week of diplomacy for Ukraine ramps up on Wednesday, when President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to address the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as Ukraine redoubles its pleas for more advanced weapons.

Ukraine’s

new push for arms like tanks and air defence missiles

began in earnest on Tuesday, when General Mark Milley, chair of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, held his first face-to-face meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, in Poland, nearly 11 months after the Russian invasion.

On Wednesday and Thursday, Nato’s defence ministers will meet in Brussels to take stock of assistance for Ukraine.

On Friday, they will be joined at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany by officials from a broader group of nations that have coordinated aid to Ukraine. US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin will lead those discussions, including the crucial question of whether to send Western tanks.

There is a consensus among Kyiv’s main supporters that the opportunity to enable the Ukrainian military to break the brutal deadlock with Russian forces in the east and south and drive them back is slipping. At the same time, Ukraine faces missile attacks that have devastated much of its infrastructure and an expected Russian offensive this spring.

In his nightly address on the eve of his Davos speech, Mr Zelensky said Kyiv was “lobbying for increased global pressure” on Russia while at Davos, where world and business leaders have gathered for a week.

“The world hears Ukraine in Davos,” he said, before noting recent acts of Russian violence in Ukraine, including Saturday’s strike on an apartment building in the central city of Dnipro that killed 45 people far from the front lines.

“We are doing everything to ensure that this support becomes truly global and that steps to end Russian aggression and return security are taken by all influential actors in international relations,” Mr Zelensky said.

He will be addressing the forum through video link a day after Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska implored world leaders to use their influence to support Ukraine. She outlined a 10-point peace plan that Mr Zelensky had announced in November, and that includes the total withdrawal of Russian forces from Ukraine.

Mr Vitali Klitschko, Kyiv’s mayor, is also in Davos.

The Dnipro attack has added urgency for some leaders.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte told US President Joe Biden on Tuesday that the Netherlands intends to

follow the lead of the United States

and Germany and send a Patriot missile system to Ukraine. He said the Dnipro strike strengthened “our resolve to stay with Ukraine”.

In a meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Mr James Cleverly, Britain’s foreign secretary, defended his country’s decision to provide Ukraine with 14 of its Challenger 2 tanks, which would be the first Western tanks in Ukraine’s forces, and tens of thousands of additional rounds of ammunition.

He said that the assistance package would not only have a “significant positive impact”, but also encourage other countries to do more. NYTIMES