Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered an unflinching critique of Europe’s weakness, saying the region risked sinking into irrelevance unless it invested heavily in its own defence and deployed 200,000 troops to Ukraine after a ceasefire.
Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that Donald Trump’s return to the White House meant Europe needed to prepare for US disengagement from its security.
“Will President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see Nato as necessary?” Zelenskyy asked.
Zelenskyy repeated his plea for Europe to provide meaningful security guarantees to Kyiv, on the assumption that Nato membership remains beyond Ukraine’s grasp because of misgivings in Washington and other capitals.
If Europe was serious about plans floated by French President Emmanuel Macron to put troops on the ground in Ukraine after a ceasefire, it would need to be a “minimum” of 200,000 soldiers to be an effective deterrent to Russia and supplement Ukraine’s 800,000-strong army, Zelenskyy said.
Macron has been sounding out European partners over their willingness to deploy military personnel either to train Ukrainian forces or in sufficient quantity to deter further Russian aggression. However, the idea has so far gained little traction.
“If the security guarantees are weak . . . then you’ll only get words from Russia and they come back with war,” Zelenskyy said.
He said he would resist any attempt by Russia to impose limits on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces as part of any peace deal with Moscow.
The Ukrainian president said that while western allies saw the US as an indispensable security ally, nobody thought the same of Europe.
“Does anybody in the US worry that Europe might abandon them one day? The answer is No.”
It was “not even clear” Europeans would have a role in any negotiation to end the war in Ukraine, he added.
“Europe deserves to be more than just a bystander, with its leaders reduced to posting on X after an agreement has already been made. Europe needs to shape the terms of those deals,” Zelenskyy said.
He endorsed Trump’s call for Nato members to spend as much as 5 per cent of gross domestic product on defence.
“If it takes 5 per cent of GDP to cover defence, then so be it.”
Zelenskyy barely addressed Trump’s professed desire to bring a swift end to the war — although the US president and his advisers have recently said it could take six months to reach a deal, rather than his campaign boast of 24 hours. Nor did he address those Trump supporters who have called for an end to US aid to Ukraine.
He insisted his relations with Trump were “good”, but said that some of the president’s allies spouted misinformation about Ukraine and used Russian propaganda points, so it was all the more important that Europe had a louder voice to counter those messages.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the WEF earlier on Tuesday that the EU would stand by Ukraine even if the US curtailed its support.
“We will continue to support Ukraine without question, whatever happens next,” she said.
