President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said at the World Economic Forum on Tuesday that it was time for Europe to stand strong and remain united as the United States installs a new president skeptical of global alliances and continued aid to Ukraine.
“Europe must shape history for itself and its allies,” he said in a speech to dozens of government leaders at the annual Alpine summit in Davos, Switzerland.
Mr. Zelensky spoke less than 24 hours after President Trump was sworn into office for the second time. But already, he said, “most of the world is thinking, what is going to happen to their relationship to America.”
While America remains an “indispensable ally” that can help bring an end to Russia’s war of aggression, Mr. Zelensky warned European leaders that they do not have the luxury of an ocean separating them from the revanchist regime in the Kremlin.
Therefore, he said, Europe must ensure its voice is heard in talks to secure not only a rapid end to the fighting in Ukraine but a just and enduring peace.
“Will President Trump listen to Europe or will he negotiate with Russia and China without Europe?” Mr. Zelensky asked. “Europe needs to learn how to take care of itself.”
He said he had a good relationship with Mr. Trump and recalled telling the American president that Ukraine wants be his partner in ending the bloodshed. No one, he said, wants the war to end more desperately than Ukrainians.
Mr. Trump has offered little insight into how he intends to fulfill his campaign pledge to end the fighting, and there is little indication that Moscow is willing to move away from its maximalist demands that would leave Ukraine cleaved in two and militarily neutered.
Mr. Zelensky offered sobering statistics about how vulnerable Europe would be without American assistance, and he described a grim scenario that he said nations across the continent could face if Russia achieved its stated war aim of neutering Ukraine.
For instance, despite having a far smaller economy than the European Union, Moscow is able to produce significantly more weapons and munitions, he said. Russia can also field 1.5 million troops, he said, while Ukraine currently has more than 800,000 servicemen and women. The largest force in Western Europe is France, with about 200,000 troops.
“If it takes 5 percent of G.D.P. to cover defense, then so be it, 5 percent it is,” he said, referring to the amount Mr. Trump has urged all NATO allies to spend.
Earlier this month, the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute estimated that if Russia were to prevail in its bid to subjugate Ukraine, the United States would need to bolster its own military by spending an additional $808 billion over five years to safeguard Europe.
“These resources would be required on top of the currently planned defense budget over that same period and would be used to build the defense capacity, capability, and posture to provide for American security and meet current commitments to NATO in the new, more dangerous strategic environment,” the institute said in a report.
The cost to Europe could be even more profound, Mr. Zelensky said.
Without strong security guarantees for Ukraine — guarantees that he said must include some combination of NATO membership, long-range weapons to deter aggression and allied troops deployed to Ukraine to deter aggression — he said Russia would continue to menace all the countries President Vladimir V. Putin views as being a within Russia’s self-determined sphere of influence.
“He will be bringing us to the world that lives in his head,” Mr. Zelensky said.
North Korean troops, he said, are currently engaged in battles in the Kursk region of Russia, which is closer to Davos than Pyongyang. Moscow and Tehran just signed a security agreement solidifying an alliance driven by mutual desire to challenge the West. China continues to help keep the Russian economy afloat.
“Who do they make such deals against?” Mr. Zelensky said. “Against you, against us. Against Europe, against America.”
“Russia is turning into a version of North Korea — a country where human life means nothing, but they have nuclear weapons and a burning desire to make their neighbors’ lives miserable,” he said.
He said he thinks Mr. Trump will ultimately understand why it is in America’s interest to combat nations clearly bent on undermining U.S. power and influence.
“There are some voices around Trump delivering disinformation or pro-Russian messages,” he said.
“It is very important that Europe is loud,” he said, “so he clearly understands the details and the risks.”
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