SLate on Saturday evening, a thunderous Ukrainian storm erupted on the first floor of a Munich beer tavern. Hundreds of guests crowd around knuckle and sauerkraut in the Bavarian-Baroque guest room under chandeliers and the almost life-size crucified Christ. A German scenery: downstairs in the hall lively Munich carnival activities, one flight of stairs higher a solidarity meal for the Ukraine war between euphoria and disappointment.
American senators sit there in the “Spatenhaus an der Oper” next to Eastern European ministers, Brits next to Balts, in between a Mongolian dragon slayer, a South American Nobel Peace Prize winner and a famous writer. And, of course, numerous Ukrainian deputies, ministers, officers and activists are among the guests. Since Thursday they have again been courting, begging and demanding at the Munich Security Conference. Just like its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who spoke to the dozens of heads of government from all over the world, but above all from the West, via video link on Friday morning: Keep helping us, give us more, help us faster! Everyone in Munich should feel that the danger has not been averted that Russia is arming itself and its enormous military machine is rolling – with huge losses in people and material, but slowly making progress.