Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blasted his European allies Thursday for what he portrayed because the continent’s slow, fragmented and inadequate response to Russia’s invasion nearly 4 years ago and its continued international aggression.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zelenskyy listed a litany of grievances and criticisms of Europe that he said have left Ukraine on the mercy of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid an ongoing U.S. push for a peace settlement.
“Europe looks lost,” Zelenskyy said in his speech, urging the continent to change into a world force. He contrasted Europe’s response with Washington’s daring steps in Venezuela and Iran.
The previous comic actor referred to the movie “Groundhog Day,” through which the principal character must relive the identical day over and once more.
“Just last yr, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words: Europe must know defend itself. A yr has passed. And nothing has modified. We’re still in a situation where I need to say the identical words again,” Zelenskyy said.
He said that Ukrainians, too, seem caught in that reality within the war, “repeating the identical thing for weeks, months and, in fact, for years. And yet that is strictly how we live now. It’s our life.”
His speech got here after he met behind closed doors for about an hour in Davos with U.S. President Donald Trump, who described the talks as “excellent.” Zelenskyy called them “productive and meaningful.”
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European countries, which see their very own future defence at stake within the war on its eastern flank, have provided financial, military and humanitarian support for Kyiv, but not all members of the 27-nation European Union are helping. Ukraine also has been frustrated by political disagreements inside Europe over take care of Russia, in addition to the bloc’s at times slow-moving responses.
Russia’s greater army has managed to capture about 20 per cent of Ukraine since hostilities began in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of 2022. However the battlefield gains along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line have been costly for Moscow, and the Russian economy is feeling the results of the war and international sanctions.
Ukraine is in need of money and, despite significantly boosting its own arms manufacturing, still needs Western weaponry. It is usually short-handed on the front line. Its defence minister last week reported some 200,000 troop desertions and draft-dodging by about 2 million Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy can also be striving to maintain the world’s attention focused on Ukraine despite other conflicts.
He chided Europe for being slow to act on key decisions, spending too little on defence, failing to stop Russia’s ”shadow fleet” of oil tankers which might be breaking international sanctions, and balking at using its frozen assets in Europe to finance Ukraine, amongst other things.
Europe, he said, “still feels more like a geography, history, a practice, not an actual political force, not a fantastic power.”
“Some Europeans are really strong, it’s true, but many say we must stand strong, and so they at all times want another person to inform them how long they should stand strong, preferably until the following election,” he said.
The Trump administration is pushing for a peace settlement, with its envoys shuttling between Kyiv and Moscow in a flurry of negotiations that some worry could force Ukraine right into a unfavorable deal.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected in Moscow later Thursday for more talks with Putin.
One major issue stays to be resolved in negotiations, Witkoff said at Davos, without saying what it was. Zelenskyy said the long run status of land in eastern Ukraine currently occupied by Russia is unresolved but that peace proposals are “nearly ready.”
Postwar security guarantees, should a deal be reached, are agreed between the U.S. and Ukraine, although they’d require each country’s ratification, he said.
Zelenskyy said there can be two days of trilateral meetings involving the U.S., Ukraine and Russia as a result of begin within the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
“Russians need to be ready for compromises because, , everybody must be ready, not only Ukraine, and this is significant for us,” he said
Trump and Zelenskyy have had a fraught relationship, and the American president has at times also rebuked Putin.
Zelenskyy said he thanked Trump for providing U.S.-made Patriot air defence systems that will help stop Russian missiles which might be repeatedly hitting Ukraine’s power grid, causing hardship for civilians denied light, heating and running water. He said he asked Trump for more of them.
After Trump cut support for Ukraine, other NATO countries began buying weapons from the U.S. to donate to Kyiv under a special financial arrangement.
© 2026 The Canadian Press