Russian Goliath to lose already this year, Zelenskyi says, speaking to Munich Security Conference
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, February 17, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the “Russian Goliath” began to lose ground and will fall “already this year”.
Drawing a comparison between Ukraine’s war with Russia and the biblical story of David and Goliath, President Zelenskyi said: “Ukraine still hasn’t received the David’s Sling from Israel, but I believe it’s just a matter of time.” The “Russian Goliath” will definitely fall this year, Zelenskyi said, we can achieve that.
The Russian regime — Goliath, is trying to buy itself time and is bargaining with the world. The international community needs to “hurry up”. “We need speed – speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery, speed of decisions to limit Russian potential. There is no alternative to speed because it is the speed that life depends on,” Zelenskyi said. Russia can break the security of everyone present at the Munich Security Conference — “delayed decisions of the world is what Putin’s dictatorship lives on”, he added. “Goliath must lose. There is no alternative to that!” he said.
“There is no alternative to Ukrainian victory”, Zelenskyi said. There is no alternative to Ukraine in the EU and NATO, he added. People, Europe and freedom cannot be the “subject of compromise,” he added. Allies’ support for Ukraine should get stronger and be quick. “So that the next year we would gather here, in Munich, for the first post-war security conference with free Ukraine, free Europe, and free world,” he said.
As allies’ assistance will make Ukraine stronger, Kyiv will be able to retake the occupied territories quicker, Zelenskyi said.
Russia pounds Kharkiv region with missiles, artillery
On Thursday, at least 12 towns and villages came under attack. Six people were wounded and one more was killed as the Russian forces used combat aviation and artillery against Vovchansk, local authorities said. A 44-year-old woman was wounded in Velykyi Burluk, and taken to hospital. Ukraine’s defense forces repelled Russia’s attacks near Hryanykivka and Synkivka. After 11 p.m., the Russians hit Kharkiv’s Kyivskyi and Osnovyanskyi districts with missiles. According to preliminary reports, Russia launched S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles from Belgorod region. A shock wave from one of the blasts damaged a workshop at an industrial site, head of the Kharkiv regional military administration Oleh Synehubov said. The strike on critical infrastructure facilities also damaged railroad tracks and some vehicles, the regional office of the Prosecutor General in Kharkiv said.
NATO, EU, Ukraine to hold their first trilateral meeting
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will meet at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels on February 21. They will hold a joint news conference after the meeting.
This will be the first trilateral meeting between Ukraine, the European Union, and NATO. “I look forward to meeting Jens Stoltenberg and Josep Borrell to strengthen our partnership and cooperation in defending Ukraine and Europe,” Kuleba said in a tweet.
russia’s next steps in confrontation with collective West. Ukraine in Flames #344
Unlike western leaders vladimir putin doesn’t have to answer to the public or media, which means he can make unpopular decisions, take dangerous turns and prepare for a long destructive war. Watch Ukraine in flames #344 to find out what steps russia is willing to take next based on global alignment of power in the world and a combination of various geopolitical factors.
Guests:
- Archil Tsintsadze, Military and Security Policy Expert
- Ihor Seletskyi, Executive Director of NGO «Euroatlantic Course»
- Volodymyr Tsybulko, Political Expert