Western leaders are ready for a long war, however for Volodymyr Zelenskyy “the Russian Goliath can lose this year”. It was the Ukrainian head of state who opened the Munich Security Conference via video. “But we are not the David of Dnipro,” he remarked. “We are the David of the free world and must defeat the Russian Goliath”, because today the whole continent is threatened, “both the Thames and the Spree”.
Then it was Emmanuel macron to clarify that “this is not the time for dialogue with Russia”: “We are ready to make an effort, but we are also ready for a longer war”, underlined the French President, who said he did not believe in Putin’s fall. while Olaf scholz He demanded the delivery of the leopards by the countries that announced them in Kiev and are now hesitating. In short, support for Ukraine is unquestionable and will be provided as long as it is needed, it was reiterated in Munich.
The situation is very serious, everyone is insisting, in the hours when this comes out Joe Biden he will speak at Warsaw Castle on February 21, the same day that Putin’s long-awaited speech to the Duma is announced; while the Italian foreign minister Antonio Tajaniwho will arrive in Munich tomorrow, made the announcement after a meeting in Rome with CCP diplomacy chief Wang Yi Xi Jinping he will deliver a “peace speech” on February 24, on the anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy opened the Munich Security Conference. Bringing world leaders together ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We are all the free world. And there is no alternative: we have to win against Goliath,” he said via video link. “The Russian Goliath just started losing.” “Goliath can lose this year,” he urged. “We have no alternative to our determination,” 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 for dialogue with Russia has not yet come. “Nobody can change the geography of Russia. And nobody can change the fact that Russia is part of Europe. And there can only be peace in Europe if there is an answer to the Russian question,” he said in Munich. “I have always warned: we must not be naive and make it easy for ourselves.” “And we must continue the dialogue if possible. Although this is not the time for dialogue,” he continued.
ANSA agency
Russia has targeted the cancellation of performances by Russian artists in Italy, judged as discriminatory acts, and the Italian arms shipments to Kiev as part of a Western policy causing an “escalation” in the Ukraine conflict (ANSA).
“Now who can send tanks to Ukraine?“, he warned Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in his speech in Munich. “In the armaments policy, the European Union must row in the same direction,” he said. And he added: “We are concerned that there will be no war between NATO and Russia. We will continue to strike a balance between providing the best possible support to Ukraine and avoiding an unwanted escalation. And I’m glad and grateful that President Biden and many other allies agree with me.”
The alarm from Kiev: Ten thousand soldiers are on Russian territory on the border with Sumy in north-eastern Ukraine. Lieutenant in the Ukrainian Armed Forces Andrii Gulakov told the Times. who in turn speaks of Ukrainian soldiers on guard duty in the region. “On the other side of the Sumy border, 10,000 Russian soldiers are concentrated. It’s the largest concentration there has ever been here,” the soldier said, adding that the Russians have built a field hospital at their headquarters, suggesting they are planning offensive actions.
On the other hand, the Press Office of the Naval Forces of Ukraine, quoted by UNIAN, said so The Russian Navy has increased the number of warships stationed in the Black Sea from seven to eleven, three of which carry Kalibr cruise missiles, the total salvo of which is about 24 missiles. Another Federation combat ship is in the Sea of Azov and ten in the Mediterranean Sea, five of which are aircraft carriers
caliber, the total salvo of which is 72 rockets.
ANSA agency
Tajani reveals: “I hope China will put pressure on Moscow”
A few days before the anniversary of Moscow’s deployment to Ukraine on February 24, the conflict will top the agenda with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba representing Ukraine. Kiev’s Western backers, led by the United States, have supplied it with a vast supply of weapons and have promised to supply more, including the heavy tanks that Ukrainians have long sought to counter the Russian offensive. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is now ramping up requests for Western fighter jets, though his allies have been cool on the matter so far. Kuleba himself said before the opening of the Munich conference: “No country has yet made any commitments to Ukrainian fighter jets”.
ANSA agency
According to British intelligence (ANSA), the Russian dead would be 60,000