First lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska reacts Wednesday at a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, after hearing news that a helicopter had crashed into a kindergarten in Ukraine, killing more than a dozen people.
First lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska reacts Wednesday at a World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, after hearing news that a helicopter had crashed into a kindergarten in Ukraine, killing more than a dozen people.
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told political leaders at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos that supplies of Western weapons must come quicker than Russia’s attacks, urging the world to move faster because “tragedies are outpacing life; the tyranny is outpacing democracy.”
Zelenskyy, speaking by video link from Kyiv, said the world needs to react more rapidly to challenges like global security, climate change, hunger and energy, warning that in the war, “the time the free world uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill.”
He said his allies must not hesitate: “The supplying of Ukraine with air defense systems must outpace Russia’s vast missile attacks. The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks.”
Zelenskyy spoke after U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres described the world as being in a “sorry state” because of interlinked challenges including climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine that are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash.”
The gloom hung on the second day of the elite gathering of world leaders and corporate executives in the Swiss ski resort of Davos after a helicopter crashed into a kindergarten in Ukraine, killing more than a dozen people, including Ukraine’s interior minister.
Zelenskyy stood and asked for a moment of silence for the victims. There was no immediate word on the cause of the crash, but he said that “every individual, every death is a result of war.”
His wife, first lady Olena Zelenska, called it “another very sad day,” and told Davos attendees that “we can also change this negative situation for the better.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Ukraine’s Western backers this week will discuss ways to supply heavier and more advanced weapons.
“The main message there will be: more support, more advanced support, heavier weapons and more modern weapons,” Stoltenberg said. “This is a fight for our values, this is a fight for democracy — and we just have to prove that democracy wins over tyranny and oppression.”
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Who is working on a peace plan?
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