The president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelenski, took advantage of his speech in the plenary session of the Munich Security Conference to lead the Europeans a resounding exhortation to take the reins of the future of the continent in his hands before a Russia that, in his opinion, in his opinion, It does not give any sample of wanting peace and some United States that has marked the entire stage after World War II. “I really believe that the time has come to form some European armed forces,” said Zelenski.
“Let’s be honest. We cannot rule out the possibility of the US to tell Europe in matters that threaten it. Decades of old relationship between Europe and the US are ending. Europe needs to adapt to this new reality. I urge you to do it for your own good, of your nations, your children, your houses. Europe must become self -sufficient, ”said Zelenski, launching, in that context, its invitation to create European Armed Forces; The only possibility, in his opinion, to create a real deterrence against Putin in the New World. “And this is not only a matter of investing more money. It is a matter that people understand the need to defend our house. ”
Hours later, an intervention of the special envoy for Ukraine of President Trump, General Keith Kellogg, gave new entity to the indications that the US administration has very little with Europeans. Asked if the Ukrainians and Europeans would have a seat at the negotiating table to finish the conflict with Russia, he replied: “The answer to the second part of the question, as it has been asked, is no.” As for the Ukrainians, he said that “of course” they will be.
Kellogg’s statement is another hard blow for the transatlantic relationship, after Trump began a dialogue with Putin without consulting with European allies and that his secretary of Defense explicitly assumed in exchange for nothing the concession to Russia that Ukraine NATO will not enter. The common position of Europeans, expressed clearly by the president of the European Council, António Costa, is that there cannot be a peace negotiation with the Russians without involving Europe, since the conflict not only concerns Ukraine, but also to The stability of much of the continent.
Zelenski invited the minds of certain illusions to clear: “Does the European market need? Yes. Does it need US to Europe as allies? Don’t know. To make the answer positive, Europe needs to have a single voice. Even those who are periodically invited to Mar-a-Lago have interest in a strong Europe. Trump is not interested in weak friends. ”
Regarding their, Zelenski said that the climate of the conversations was good, but that much more work was necessary to get a true peace plan to be slim. Regarding the negotiations in progress between the two countries to grant the US access to strategic mineral resources, the Ukrainian president stressed that there is no closed agreement: “We continue talking.”
Zelenski also reported a striking anecdote, recognizing that he told Trump that. “Now Putin knows that I told him,” he said, starting smiles in the stalls. The interviewer had the instinct to apologize for her smile amid dramatic circumstances. Zelenski replied that you have to continue living, and continue to smile at the time when possible. At another time in his speech he considered that “Putin is weak”, and that we must “take advantage” of that weakness.
The president of Ukraine accompanied his notice with. “We have solid information on intelligence services that point to Russia will display troops in Belarus this summer,” he said. “Is that deployment designed to attack us? Could be. Or not. Maybe it is to attack you, ”he added, before a plates full of. “I invite you to ask if your armed forces are prepared for an eventual Russian attack. I hope it is never necessary to check the answer, ”he said after pointing out that nothing points out that Vladimir Putin is willing to peace.
Zelenski also recalled that this week Russia has hit the sarcophagus that contains the radiation of. And that Moscow works in the constitution of new military divisions that, by themselves, will represent a force majeure that most European armies has.
More defense spending
Previously, the German Chancellor, had also referred to the question of the Ukraine War. He underlined his conviction that it is necessary to increase defense spending in Europe. “Anyone who maintains that the necessary resources can be found with some cuts here and there in other parts of the budget is lying to the citizens of my country. Therefore, we have to make sure that just after the elections we reformed the brake on debt in our Constitution, by excluding security and defense from it. ”
Scholz stressed the importance of ensuring that Europe’s security reinforcement is not made at the cost of investments in social benefits. He also wanted to highlight that, in terms of proportional to the size of the economy, Germany’s support to Ukraine is four times that of the United States.
The previous day, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had announced to promote the activation of an exception to the stability and growth pact so that investments in defense are not subject to the fiscal corset.
It is representing the crystallization of a new sense of urgency of Europeans in terms of the need to endow their own deterrence. Von der Leyen said that the expense of European countries in defense has passed 200,000 million before the Russian invasion of Ukraine to 320,000 million, but that it will be necessary much more. It will take both to reinforce the capacities of the armed forces of European countries, and to continue sustaining the defense of Ukraine, both in case of prolongation of war, and for that of a peace that will have to be assured by guarantees.
Zelenski said that, if Ukraine entry into NATO is not guaranteed, his country will need armed forces endowed with around 1.3 or 1.5 million soldiers to exercise a credible deterrence. In addition, although he did not want to go into details, everyone understands that the deployment of a consistent peace maintenance force would be necessary. In Davos, where he did talk about the subject with a group of journalists, he said they would take.
