Ukraine's Zelensky pleads for increased support at Munich Security meeting
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged world leaders to speed up support for his country. Zelensky spoke at the opening of the Munich Security Conference, as Germany pushed allies to deliver crucial tanks ahead of the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.
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Allies have delivered an array of weaponry to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war and promise more, but Kyiv fears crucial supplies will arrive too late to defeat a major new offensives.
"We need to hurry up," Zelensky told the start of the three-day gathering via video link. "We need speed -- speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery... speed of decisions to limit Russian potential".
There is no "alternative", as people's lives are on the line, he said.
The key annual conference comes just days ahead of the 24 February anniversary of Moscow sending its forces into the country, unleashing war in Europe for the first time in decades.
The meeing is being attended by the leaders of France and Germany, as well as US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, China's top diplomat Wang Yi and NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Russian delegates including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was a regular attendee at Munich in the past, have not been invited.
Zelensky also insisted that there was "no alternative" to Ukraine triumphing in its fight against President Vladimir Putin's troops, and no choice but for Kyiv to eventually join the EU and NATO.
'Intensify support'
Speaking to the forum after Zelensky, French President Emmanuel Macron urged allies to "intensify our support" for Ukraine to aid its forces in launching a counter-offensive.
Β While insisting he did not want to see a drawn-out war, he said France was ready for a "prolonged conflict". Macron said now is not the right time for dialogue with Moscow.
"We have a Russia which has chosen war, which has chosen to intensify the war, and which has chosen to go as far as committing war crimes and to attacking civilian infrastructures," he said.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz meanwhile insisted that German support was "designed to last", but took a veiled swipe at other allies over faltering efforts to deliver promised tanks to Ukraine.
#BREAKING Germany's support for Ukraine is 'designed to last', Chancellor Scholz tells Munich Security Conference pic.twitter.com/wxDlidvEko
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) February 17, 2023
Facing desperate pleas from Kyiv, Berlin finally agreed in January to allow German-made Leopard tanks -- widely used in Europe -- to be sent Ukraine.
Berlin has vowed to send some of the most modern equjipment from its military stocks but is struggling to persuade allies to do the same.
"Those who can send such battle tanks should really do so now," Scholz told the conference, promising "intensively campaigning" to get allies to move on the issue.
It is a reversal of fortunes for Scholz, who has faced accusations of foot-dragging over his reluctance to permit delivery of the tanks.
Under German law, Berlin must give permission for other countries that use the tanks to re-export them.
(With news agencies)
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