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MUNICH — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants Donald Trump to come and see the war against Russia with his own eyes.
“If Mr. Trump will come I am ready even to go with him to the front line,” Zelenskyy said Saturday morning at the Munich Security Conference.
Trump is leading in the polls to run as the Republican Party’s nominee in this November’s U.S. presidential election and has pledged repeatedly to stop aid to Ukraine and force Kyiv to the negotiating table with Russia.
Zelenskyy dealt with Trump during his first term as president, and the U.S. leader’s effort to coerce him into providing damaging information about Joe Biden led to a vote to impeach him.
But Zelenskyy was careful not to burn bridges with the mercurial Trump, even ensuring he addressed him as “Mr.,” not directly criticizing him and encouraging him to find out more about the war.
“I think if we are in dialogue how to finish the war we have to demonstrate to people who are decision-makers, what does it mean — the real war, not in Instagram,” Zelenskyy said.
In his appearance at the Munich conference, Zelenskyy again called for faster deliveries of artillery shells and long-range missiles.
Speaking of an “artificial deficit” in ammunition, Zelenskyy said that Ukrainian commanders had decided to retreat from the besieged city of Avdiivka in the face of relentless “meat wave” attacks by Russian forces.
He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces were suffering seven casualties for every Ukrainian death in Avdiivka, but even that death rate wasn’t stopping the attacks.
“Russia has only one specific advantage, complete devaluation of human life,” Zelenskyy said.
That means Ukraine needs aid from its allies to even the odds against Russia.
There is growing frustration with political gridlock in Washington that has stalled $95 billion bill for military aid to Ukraine and Israel; the House of Representatives has gone on a two-week recess without tackling the issue as Ukrainian troops run short of ammunition.
“The lack of decision in the U.S. Congress … has a direct impact on the front lines in Ukraine,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a panel that followed Zelenskyy’s speech. “It’s not for me to give advice on how to pass legislation to the U.S. Congress … now it’s time for the U.S. to deliver what they have promised.”
Despite Ukraine’s desperation, there is little sign of the partisan gridlock in Washington ending soon. “It takes time to work things through in a democracy. We will get there,” Republican Senator Pete Ricketts said.
That earned him a blast from Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, who warned that the costs of U.S. inaction could be very high, comparing the situation to the lead-up to World War II.
“Time is working in favor of Putin,” Kallas said, adding: “If America isolates itself, eventually it’s going to cost you more.”
For Ukraine, there is no choice but to continue fighting even if the U.S. aid doesn’t show up, Zelenskyy said. “We will win with them or not, we have no other way,” he said.
Protecting the skies
Ukraine is also facing growing difficulty in protecting its air space.
“We know for sure, all of us, that with Patriots and Western air defense systems any Russian missile can be shot down,” Zelenskyy said.”The systems will unblock the sky and make it possible for our soldiers to move ahead … If there are enough air defense systems in Ukraine we will be able to bring home millions of Ukrainians, millions of our people, millions of our refugees.”
Zelenskyy also underlined the brutal nature of Putin’s regime, detailing wars launched by the Kremlin against Chechnya and Georgia, as well as the murder of political opponents like Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, whose death in an Arctic prison colony was reported on Friday.
The Ukrainian president said Navalny’s death was a “clear message” to those in Munich and should embolden Western countries to support Ukraine’s defense.
“This is Russia’s war against any rules at all,” Zelenskyy said, to applause from the auditorium, adding:” If you do not manage to act now, Putin will make the next years catastrophic for other countries as well.”
Zelenskyy’s appearance in Munich is part on an ongoing campaign to strengthen Kyiv’s ties with its Western allies. Before coming to Munich, he was in Berlin and Paris to sign security agreements, adding to a similar pact with the United Kingdom.
Although Russia has more ammunition, the war is also causing problems, forcing it to plead for help from ramshackle dictatorships. “For the first time in Russian history, Russia bowed to Iran and North Korea for help,” said Zelenskyy.
Despite problems like ammunition shortages and retreats from cities like Avdiivka, Zelenskyy insisted that Ukraine can prevail in the war against Russia, especially if its allies give it more arms and ammunition.
“We can get our land back, and Putin can lose,” he said, adding: “We should not be afraid of Putin‘s defeat and the destruction of his regime. It is his fate to lose — not the fate of the rules-based order to vanish.”
Antoaneta Roussi contributed reporting.
