Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) for his reluctance to deliver tanks. “There comes a time when you shouldn’t hesitate,” Zelensky said on Thursday during a discussion with participants at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, linked via video.
“I don’t think it’s the right strategy if someone says I’m supplying tanks, if someone else is also supplying tanks or if someone from outside Europe is also supplying tanks,” the Ukrainian president said, without naming Scholz. According to information from Süddeutsche Zeitung US President Joe Biden signaled his availability in a phone call on Tuesday Leopard-2-Supplied main battle tanks to Ukraine. The prerequisite for this was that America also handed over battle tanks to Ukraine.
Zelensky attributed Ukraine’s recent lack of success in the war with Russia to the fact that the allied weapons were currently too scarce: “We are waiting for help on the battlefield.” His country could win “not only by motivation and morale.”
“A vaccine against Russian tyranny, against its weapons, is available,” said Zelensky. “There is a list of countries that have this (Vaccine, editor’s note) own. And there is a precise list of what we need. If you want to help us, do it. Just help us. Give us your weapons and we will take back our land.”
Johnson calls for main battle tanks for Ukraine
Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also called for more support for Ukraine. “Give them a tank. Nothing to lose,” Johnson said. Johnson called the fear that the Russian president could use nuclear weapons in this case “nonsense”. Putin knows only too well that countries like China and India will turn “against him in a big way”.
Former heads of government complained that the West’s involvement in Ukraine was weaker than it had been in Iraq, for example: “We are doing less to help, spending less money and taking less risks than we did in Iraq.”
Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland also pleaded in Davos to “help Ukraine as much as we can”.
