Western leaders are ready for a long war, but for Volodymyr Zelensky “the Russian Goliath may lose within this year”. He was the Ukrainian leader to open the Munich Security Conference on video. “We are not the David of Dnipro though,” he remarked. “We are the David of the free world and we must beat the Russian Goliath”, because today the whole continent is threatened, “the Thames like the Spree”.
It was then Emmanuel Macron to clarify that “this is not the time for dialogue with Russia”: “We are willing to make the effort, but we are also ready for a longer war”, punctuated the French president, who said he did not believe in Putin’s fall. While Olaf Scholz he urged the delivery of the Leopards by the countries that announced them in Kiev and are now hesitant. In short, support for Ukraine is not in question and will be guaranteed as long as it is necessary, it was reiterated in Munich.
The situation is very serious, everyone insists, in the hours when it comes out that Joe Biden he will speak at Warsaw Castle on February 21, the same day Putin’s long-awaited speech to the Duma is announced; while the Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajaniwho will arrive in Munich tomorrow, revealed after meeting in Rome with CCP diplomacy chief Wang Yi that Xi Jinping he will give “a peace speech” on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Sunak: “NATO will change the treaty to guarantee Kiev”. Britain proposes a change to NATO’s Atlantic Treaty to protect Ukraine from future Russian aggression, guaranteeing Kiev “long-term” support. This is what the British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak affirms in his speech scheduled for Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, as anticipated by a note released in the late evening from Downing Street. “We have to show that we will stand by their side, willing and able to help them defend their country again and again,” the prime minister added. Sunak also launches an appeal to allied countries to “double” military support for Kiev.
Ukrainian President Zelensky opened the Munich Security Conference, bringing together world leaders ahead of the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “We are all the free world. And there is no alternative: we must win against Goliath,” he said by video link. “The Russian Goliath Just Started Losing.” “Goliath can lose this year,” he pressed. “We have no alternative to our resoluteness”, he added, warning that “the Kremlin can destroy the peace of everyone present. If the world’s decisions are slow, Putin will benefit”.
Macron has warned that the time has not yet come for dialogue with Russia. “Nobody can change the geography of Russia. And nobody can change the fact that Russia is part of Europe. And there can be peace in Europe only if there is an answer to the Russian question,” he said in Munich. “I’ve always warned: we mustn’t be naïve and make it easy.” “And we must continue the dialogue where possible. Even if this is not the time for dialogue yet,” she continued.
“Who can send tanks to Ukraine do it now“, he warned German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in his speech in Munich. “In arms policy, the European Union must row in the same direction,” she said. And he added: “We are concerned that we will not end up with a war between NATO and Russia. We will continue to maintain the balance between the best possible support for Ukraine and avoiding an unwanted escalation. And I am happy and grateful that President Biden and many other allies are of the same mind as me.”
The alarm from Kiev: Ten thousand soldiers are concentrated in Russian territory on the border of Sumy, in north-eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian Armed Forces lieutenant Andrii Gulakov told the Times. who in turn mentions Ukrainian soldiers on guard duty in the region. “Across the border from Sumy, 10,000 Russian soldiers are concentrated. This is the largest concentration there has ever been here,” the military man said, adding that the Russians have built a field hospital at their headquarters, and this indicates they are planning offensive actions.
On the other hand, the Press Office of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, quoted by UNIAN, informed that The Russian Navy has increased the number of warships deployed in the Black Sea from seven to eleven, three of which carry Kalibr cruise missiles, whose total salvo is around 24 missiles. Another Federation combat ship is in the Sea of Azov, and ten are in the Mediterranean, five of which are aircraft carriers
Caliber, whose total salvo is 72 missiles.
With just days to go on the Feb. 24 anniversary of Moscow sending its forces to Ukraine, conflict will be high on the agenda, with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba representing Ukraine. Kiev’s Western backers, led by the United States, have supplied it with a huge amount of weapons and pledged to supply more, including the heavy tanks the Ukrainians have long sought to counter Russia’s offensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky is now ramping up requests for Western fighter jets, even though his allies have so far been cool on the matter. Kuleba himself, before the opening of the Munich conference, said that “No country has yet promised to Ukraine fighter jets”.
Source: Ansa
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