(Munich) Ukraine is “the shield of Europe” against the Russian army, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday in Munich, urging Westerners to end their “appeasement” policy vis-à-vis of Moscow and to increase their military aid to Kiev.
Posted at 10:54 a.m.
Updated at 12:01 p.m.
He also demanded a “clear timetable” for his country’s NATO membership while Moscow asks the West never to accept Ukraine into the Alliance and to withdraw their troops from Eastern Europe. Is.
“We appreciate any help, but everyone should understand: it is not charity contributions that Ukraine should ask for […] It is your contribution to the security of Europe and the world. Where Ukraine has been the shield for eight years,” he told the Security Conference in Munich, Germany.
Mr Zelensky was referring to the armed conflict in eastern Ukraine with pro-Russian separatists backed by Moscow, which began in 2014, after Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and continues today. The conflict left more than 14,000 dead and 1.5 million displaced.
PHOTO ALEXEY NIKOLSKY, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Russian President Vladimir Putin
The president said he appreciated “any help”, whether “hundreds of units of modern weapons or 5,000 helmets” promised by the German government, which refuses to deliver weapons to Kiev, drawing criticism and ridicule in Ukraine .
“For eight years, Ukraine has retained one of the largest armies in the world which is massed on our border and not those” of the countries of the European Union, he continued.
The Ukrainian president also demanded from his Western allies that they cease their policy of “appeasement” vis-à-vis Russia.
“Ukraine received security guarantees when it renounced its nuclear weapons, the third largest in the world. We have no weapons. Or security,” he said. “We have lost a part of our territory which is larger than Switzerland, the Netherlands or Belgium. We have lost millions of our citizens”.
“We don’t have all that anymore. But we have the right to demand an end to the policy of appeasement and to ask for guarantees of security and peace,” he said.
Faced with Russia, the West should “support Ukraine and its defense capabilities” and give it “a clear and achievable timetable” for its accession to NATO, said Mr. Zelensky before proposing a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, at a time when fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are at their highest.
“I don’t know what the Russian president wants, that’s why I suggest we meet,” he said.