Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky returned to Germany this Saturday, February 17 after signing two security agreements with Berlin and Paris. At the Munich Security Conference, he called on his Western allies to provide more military aid to his country, emphasizing the importance of long-range weapons. Zelensky made this statement just after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the border town of Avdiivka, granting Russia its biggest symbolic victory following kyiv's failed summer counteroffensive.
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“Ukraine has shown that it can force Russia to withdraw and that it is capable of restoring the rules. We can get our land back and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can lose, this has already happened more than once on the battlefield.” , stated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his speech at the Munich Security Conference, this Saturday, February 17.
Zelensky assured that the actions of his country's troops in the field are only limited by the lack of ammunition and long-range missiles from the West, which allows Russia to adapt to the situation on the battlefield.
“Our actions are only limited by the effectiveness and reach of our force. Avdiivka is the proof,” he said, after the withdrawal of Kiev troops from that eastern city.
Ukraine announced this Saturday the withdrawal of its troops from the eastern city of Avdiivka in the face of the advance of Russian forces and increasingly louder voices within the Ukrainian Army about the impossibility of maintaining this front.
“Keeping Ukraine in a (state of) artificial weapons deficit, especially in terms of artillery and long-range capabilities, allows Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war,” lamented the Ukrainian president.
Long range weaponry
He also maintained that, with Patriot and other Western anti-aircraft systems, “any Russian missile can be shot down.”
“If we have enough in Ukraine we can get millions of refugees to return,” said the president. “We do not have long-range weapons, Russia has these weapons (…) and that is why we are still waiting for support of our partners,” he insisted
However, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was cautious on the subject during his speech at the conference.
kyiv wants Berlin to equip it with Taurus, one of the most modern and effective missiles in the German air force.
“Step by step, we always decide what to do at the right time,” responded Olaf Scholz, hinting that the delivery of these weapons is not yet on the agenda.
Germany signed a security agreement with Zelensky on Friday, which provides for long-term civil and military aid pending the country's possible future accession to NATO.
The signed document contains immediate military aid worth 1.1 billion euros, a tranche of the 7 billion aid already announced by Germany for 2024.
In Paris, on the occasion of the signing of another similar agreement with France, Emmanuel Macron this Friday promised Zelensky “up to 3 billion euros” in “additional” military aid this year.
Call against Putin
The Ukrainian president's European tour was, however, overshadowed by the announcement of the death in prison of Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's main opponent.
In this regard, Zelensky said this Saturday: “Putin murders anyone he wants, be it an opposition leader or anyone else (…) After the murder of Navalny, it is absurd to perceive Putin as the supposedly legitimate head of state of Russia “he stressed at the conference.
In Zelensky's opinion, the Russian president only has two options: “stand before The Hague or be murdered by one of his accomplices who are now killing for him.”
“We all have to do everything possible to defeat the aggressor. Please remember, everyone, dictators do not go on vacation. Hatred knows no pauses, artillery is not silenced by procedural issues. Combatants need enough strength and We should not be afraid of Putin's defeat, it is a threat to all free nations,” he stressed.
He also called on Europe to continue building its own defense.
“There was the myth that Europe was too weak to defend itself. But Europe has become a global force,” he said.
“Perhaps Europe is facing times in which the question of invoking Article 5 of the NATO Treaty will no longer be a question for Washington, but for European capitals,” he stressed about the Atlantic Alliance provision that establishes that an attack against one of the allies is one against all; a maxim that has once again been questioned by former US President Donald Trump, favorite in the Republican primaries for the next US presidential elections.
With EFE, AFP and Reuters
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