Volodymyr Zelensky will open the ball in Davos
The World Economic Forum, which opens Tuesday in Davos, Switzerland, will be marked by the unprecedented presence of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
As the second “anniversary” of the invasion of his country by the Russian army approaches, Mr. Zelensky is making the trip in person this year to continue to convince his allies to support him in the face of a certain risk of weariness.
The Ukrainian president, who had only spoken by video the previous two years, will this time be at the official platform, Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. Other public interventions are planned on the sidelines of the official program, as well as bilateral meetings.
National security advisers from more than eighty countries already discussed Sunday in Davos to find common ground on a formula for peace in Ukraine. But Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis, who co-chaired the talks, acknowledged that so far neither kyiv nor Moscow were ready to take the plunge.
After almost two years of war, Ukraine must remobilize its allies, especially with the emergence of new conflicts, particularly in the Middle East: the war in Gaza and insecurity in the Red Sea will notably feature this year in the debates in Davos.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about aid from the United States and the European Union”and Ukrainians are worried to see “the distracted international community” by other conflicts, recognized Monday, Penny Pritzker, special representative of the United States for the economic reconstruction of the country.