DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday criticized his European allies for what he described as the continent’s slow, fragmented and inadequate response to Russia’s nearly four-year-old invasion and its continued international aggression.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy listed a series of grievances and criticisms of Europe that he said have left Ukraine at the mercy of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid US efforts for a peace deal.
“Europe seems lost,” Zelensky said in his speech, urging the continent to become a global force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s bold measures in Venezuela and Iran.
The former comic actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day”, where the main character has to relive the same day over and over again.
“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe must know how to defend itself. A year has passed. And nothing has changed. We are still in a situation where I have to say the same words again,” Zelenskyy said.
He said Ukrainians also seem trapped in that wartime reality, “repeating the same thing for weeks, months and of course years. And yet, that’s how we live now. It’s our life.”
European countries, which see their own future defense at stake in the war on its eastern flank, have offered financial, military and humanitarian support to Kiev, but not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine has also been frustrated by political disagreements in Europe over how to deal with Russia, as well as the bloc’s sometimes slow responses.
A meeting with Trump
His speech came after he met behind closed doors for about an hour in Davos with US President Donald Trump, who described the talks as “very good”. Zelenskyy called them “productive and meaningful.”
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew back to Washington from Davos, Trump said his meeting with Zelensky had gone well, adding that the Ukrainian president had told him he wanted to make a deal to end the war.
“I had a good meeting, but I’ve had many good meetings with President Zelensky, and it doesn’t seem to be happening,” he said.
Trump noted that both Putin and Zelensky want to reach an agreement and that “everyone is making concessions” to try to end the war.
He said the sticking points in the talks remain the same as during the past six or seven months of talks, noting that “boundaries” are a key issue. “The main bottleneck is the same things that have sustained him for the past year,” he said.
Trump said he and Zelensky talked about how Ukrainians were surviving the cold winter without heat.
“It’s very difficult for the people of Ukraine,” Trump said, noting that it was “amazing” how the residents were able to persevere through the winter in the face of relentless Russian strikes. “It’s no way to live,” he said.
Russia’s larger army has managed to capture about 20 percent of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion in 2022. But battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the effects of war and international sanctions.
Ukraine is cash-strapped and, despite a significant increase in arms production, still needs Western weaponry. It is also shortened on the first line. Its defense minister last week reported about 200,000 troop desertions and the evasion of representation by about 2 million Ukrainians.
Zelensky also strives to keep the world’s attention focused on Ukraine despite other conflicts.
Zelensky cites lack of action on key decisions
He chided Europe for being slow to act on key decisions, spending too little on defense, failing to stop Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers that violate international sanctions and not using its frozen assets in Europe to fund Ukraine, among other things.
Europe, he said, “still feels more like a geography, a history, a tradition, not a real political force, not a great power.”
“Some Europeans are really strong, that’s true, but many say we have to be strong and they always want someone else to tell them how long they have to stay strong, preferably until the next election,” he said.
The Trump administration is pushing for a peace deal, with its envoys shuttling between Kiev and Moscow in a flurry of negotiations that some worry could force Ukraine into an unfavorable deal.
A meeting in Moscow
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner arrived in Moscow late Thursday and held talks with Putin for more than 3 hours, according to the Kremlin.
A major issue remains to be resolved in the negotiations, Witkoff said in Davos, without saying what it was. Zelensky said the future status of the land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia was unresolved, but that peace proposals were “almost ready”.
Post-war security guarantees, if a deal is reached, are agreed between the US and Ukraine, although they would require ratification by each country, he said.
Zelenskyy said two days of trilateral meetings involving the US, Ukraine and Russia were to begin on Friday in the United Arab Emirates.
“The Russians have to be ready to compromise because, you know, everybody has to be ready, not just Ukraine, and that’s important to us,” he said.
Trump and Zelenskyy have had a strained relationship, and the American president has sometimes scolded Putin as well.
Zelensky said he thanked Trump for providing US-made Patriot air defense systems that can help stop Russian missiles that repeatedly hit Ukraine’s power grid, causing hardship for civilians who are denied electricity, heat and running water. He said he asked Trump for more of them.
After Trump reduced support for Ukraine, other NATO countries began buying weapons from the US to donate to Kiev under a special financial deal.
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Hrabchuk reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Air Force One’s Josh Boak, Meg Kinnard in Houston and Ali Swenson in Washington contributed to this report.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine