During his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, called upon the countries of the world to act faster and more decisively in order to prevent new aggressive steps by Russia and end the war in Ukraine.

Source: Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s speech in English during an online address at the Restoring Security and Peace session at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Quote: "Three years ago, I participated in the World Economic Forum for the first time. It was the time when the world was fighting COVID-19. It fought and won.

Now the world is fighting against Putin. And in three years, we will be discussing new challenges and threats in Davos. What will it mean? It will mean we will definitely overcome the current threat.

History repeats itself. At first, the world either fails to notice or underestimates a threat. Then it unites to resist it. And then the world wins. Every time, the same outcome occurs.

The world overcame Nazism, apartheid, pandemics, indifference towards climate change, financial crises and the Kremlin strain. The world will overcome again.

This is how much can be said in a matter of minutes. This is how much can be understood in a matter of minutes. The world will overcome again. The time is right to make it happen faster."

Details: Thus Zelenskyy summed up his speech, which he started with the mention of the tragedy in Brovary city, Kyiv Oblast, where the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and a woman and her child were killed. 14 Ukrainian families have lost their loved ones.

The participants of the WEF in Davos observed a minute of silence in memory of all those whom Ukraine lost on this day and during almost 11 months of the war.

Zelenskyy emphasised that Ukraine has experienced thousands of such minutes, "including three minutes on January 14. Three minutes is the time it took for the Russian missile to travel hundreds of kilometres, hit a residential block in Dnipro and kill at least 45 people," he recalled.

The President added that "the world can't keep up with changes and challenges".

Quote: "The list of crises, such as global security, environmental, food and energy ones, needs to be amended with another one: the time crisis. The list of calls for decisive, efficient joint actions needs to be expanded with one more: the call for speed. The speed of decision-making. Reaction of the civilised world. Tragedies are outpacing life. Tyranny is outpacing democracy. 

Russia needed less than one second to start the war. The world needed days to react with its first round of sanctions. The time the free world uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill.

Ukraine and its allies have been resisting it for almost a year. This period proved all our prompt actions brought positive results: the opening of European borders for Ukrainians; the grain deal; the energy unity. Together, they saved millions of lives, not only in Ukraine. 

It is not only Ukraine; the whole world needs exactly this pace of decisions and actions."

Details: Zelenskyy stated that "the world was hesitant in 2014 when Russia, without hesitation, occupied Crimea. The world was hesitant in 2022, when Russia, without hesitation, started a full-scale war."

"The world must not hesitate today and ever," stressed the president.

He added, "When evil seeks revenge, the world needs resolve and speed".

"Russia is exporting terror. Russia is spreading the strain of war across the world. Ukraine offers the world a Peace formula. Please. Ten steps that the world must take faster than Russia can make its new moves. Mobilisation of the world must outpace the next military mobilisation of our common enemy,"  Zelenskyy emphasised.

He added that "the supply of Ukraine with air defence systems must outpace Russia’s next missile attacks. The supplies of Western tanks must outpace another invasion of Russian tanks".

Quote: "The restoration of security and peace in Ukraine must outpace Russia’s attack on security and peace in other countries. A tribunal for military crimes must prevent new ones. The expansion of NATO and the EU must outpace the spread of Russian aggression.

We routinely defend values that some of our allies take for granted as a fact of life. For us, the fact of life is that the world is in need of resolute and prompt steps."

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