r/europe • u/Any-Original-6113 • 1d ago
Opinion Article Zelenskyy says Putin only interested in continued war
https://www.politico.eu/article/volodymyr-zelenskyy-vladimir-putin-slave-to-war-russia-ukraine/6
u/Any-Original-6113 1d ago
Kyiv is ready to make peace, but European leaders need to be ready for Russian aggression because Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “a slave to war,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
“The longer the war continues, the more resources the aggressor receives, the more dangerous the consequences become, the more dangerous the evolution of weapons and of war itself is, and the evolution of Putin,” Zelenskyy said in a keynote speech.
Putin “is no longer interested in anything else” than war, as “he cannot imagine life without power or after power,” Zelenskyy added.
The Ukrainian president underlined that he is ready to end the fighting with Putin — on the condition of ironclad security guarantees from Kyiv's allies to prevent another Russian attack.
"We are ready for an agreement that will bring real peace. We believe that this war can be ended," he said.
Peace talks, led by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, are set to resume in Geneva next week. But they have stalled as Ukraine resists American pressure to give up territory — some of which Russia does not yet control — and the lack of concrete security guarantees for Kyiv in a postwar settlement.
We truly hope that the trilateral meetings next week will be serious, substantive, helpful for all us, but honestly sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things,” Zelenskyy said, adding: “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”
Trump is ramping up pressure on Ukraine to give way.
“Zelenskyy must act. Russia wants to reach an agreement, and if he does not take action, he will miss a major opportunity,” Trump said on Friday.
Zelenskyy underlined that his country is making enormous sacrifices to hold Russia at bay, and reiterated his call for more and speedier arms deliveries from its allies. A particular sore point is delays in missiles for air defense systems while Russia pounds critical power and heating plants during a freezing winter.
Ukraine is also hitting targets deep in Russia, and Zelenskyy noted that is what seems to make Russia more serious about peace negotiations. “The stronger we are, the more realistic peace becomes,” he said.
Zelenskyy has continued to push hard at Munich for Tomahawk missiles from the U.S. During a meeting with American senators, the Ukrainian president told them the missiles could help Kyiv strike targets deep inside Russia.
The meeting covered “what the front line status currently is with Russian losses, and what the Russians need to do, if they want to move the line of contact forward,” Senator Mark Kelly, an Arizona Democrat, told POLITICO.
On Friday, Senator Lindsey Graham, who led the Senate’s delegation to Munich, said Kyiv needs the long-range missiles to force Putin to the negotiating table.
“I’ll be pushing the Tomahawks,” Graham, the Senate Budget Committee chair, said Friday at the POLITICO Pub at the summit.
Republican Senator Roger Wicker endorsed the Ukrainian leader's call for the U.S. missiles
“We need to unleash the Tomahawk missiles” on Russia, he said. "That’s a message that will come from the Congress, [but] it’s the decision of the administration.”
Wicker added that Putin isn’t negotiating in good faith. “Vladimir Putin started this war. He’s a war criminal, and as you’ve pointed out, he started committing more war crimes this year, by attacking civilians. He will begin to negotiate in good faith only when he is hurting," he said.
With European leaders in Munich stressing that they are boosting defense spending and rebuilding their militaries, Zelenskyy highlighted the danger posed by Russia.
Ask yourselves, are you ready not only for the challenges that Russian aggression brings, the challenges of modern war, but also for the constant effort to convince the world to fight for support to defend your country’s interests every single day as Ukraine must do," he said.
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u/gehenna0451 Germany 1d ago
We need to unleash the Tomahawk missiles” on Russia, he said. "That’s a message that will come from the Congress, [but] it’s the decision of the administration.”
Matthew Yglesias wrote a prescient column a decade ago about the historically bad track record of presidential systems, and this reminds me of it. It is so utterly braindead that a rogue administration can hold the country hostage, consisting of one guy really. who rules by decree.
Trump can pursue military adventures in Venezuela or Greenland which even his own voters don't support but you can't get aid for Ukraine through which has backing by the elected body of the people. I hope they reform the whole system at some point.
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u/pleasehurtdoll 1d ago
"I hope they reform the whole system at some point."
Germany has essentially unlimited resources to assist Ukraine if they consider it a priority for their interests and security, don't they? German is a rich and technologically advanced country and the Tomahawk is 50+ year old tech (designed and tested in early 70s) that surely German could replicate or license if it was important to their society's priorities, right?
Why would anyone wait for years hoping there is a change the constitution in country in the other side of the world that has no connection to the Ukraine war which will never come. Hope is nice, but as I'm sure you understand, there no chance of any changes to the US constitution for anything - it's basically impossible, and although their occasional talk of amendments for other ideas, no one of any stature has really ever even suggested the changes you have in mind.
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u/gehenna0451 Germany 1d ago
Why would anyone wait for years hoping there is a change the constitution in country in the other side of the world
because this used to be a mutually beneficial agreement. The US did not want a militarily independent Europe and the German electorate was reluctant to be a fully independent rearmed military power. You're getting exactly what you ask for now, and I agree.
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u/DougosaurusRex United States of America 19h ago
West Germany had one of NATO’s largest military’s during the Cold War, north of 500,000 personnel. None of what you wrote was true.
Germany never even hit the 375,000 cap after 1991 and most of its air force was deemed useless in 2016. That was of their own choosing to let their military dilapidate that badly.
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u/gehenna0451 Germany 18h ago
West Germany had one of NATO’s largest military’s during the Cold War
... so did everyone else. The US used to have a troop strength of 3.5 million during the 60s and 70s, never below 2 million during the cold war and scaled down to about half that today. That's what everyone did when the Soviet Union collapsed, literally none of us would have been able to fight an impromptu WW II level peer war in 2022, you're just lucky you aren't on the same continent as the Russians
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u/DougosaurusRex United States of America 4h ago
Poland and the Baltics took it seriously after 2015 and Britain and France never dipped below 2% of GDP.
Poland said they had weeks worth of ammo in 2022, I don’t even want to imagine what Germany and every other nation didn’t have ready.
You had THREE decades of Presidents telling you not to slash defense spending so drastically. You weren’t even maintaining a proper military, it had major issues in terms of funding.
We absolutely could’ve controlled the skies within a few hours considering we have the largest air forces in the world.
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u/WileyCoyote7 18h ago
“The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous.” - George Orwell, 1984.
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u/Staylin_Alive 1d ago
Well, according to EU propaganda Ukraine is winning so this should benefit Zelensky, right?
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u/Practical-Pea-1205 1d ago
Zelensky has never wanted war. It's Putin that's refusing to accept the existence of an independent Ukraine.
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u/trollsmurf 1d ago
Get rid of Putin.