‘Will President Trump care about Europe?’ asked Volodymyr Zelenskyy

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Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy has given an unflinching view of Europe’s weakness, saying the region is at risk of becoming helpless unless it invests more in its defense and sending 200,000 troops to Ukraine after the ceasefire.

Speaking to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Zelenskyy on Tuesday said that the return of Donald Trump to the White House means that Europe needs to be prepared to withdraw from the US its security.

“Will President Trump care about Europe? Does he see the need for Nato?” Zelenskyy asked.

Zelenskyy repeated his call for Europe to provide reasonable security guarantees to Kyiv, noting that NATO members still do not understand Ukraine because of doubts in Washington and other cities.

If Europe was serious about the plans floated by French President Emmanuel Macron to put troops on the ground in Ukraine after the ceasefire, it would need a “minimum” of 200,000 troops to deter Russia and complement in the 800,000 strong Ukrainian army. , Zelenskyy said.

Macron has been making it clear to European allies about their willingness to send troops to train Ukrainian forces or in sufficient numbers to deter Russian aggression. However, that theory has so far gained little traction.

“If the security guarantee is weak . . . now you will only get words from Russia and they will come back with a war,” said Zelenskyy.

He said he would reject any Russian attempt to impose limits on the size of Ukraine’s armed forces as part of any peace deal with Moscow.

The president of Ukraine said that although the western partners see the US as an important security partner, no one thought so in Europe.

“Does anyone in America worry that Europe might abandon them one day? The answer is No.”

It was “not even clear” the Europeans would be involved in any talks to end the war in Ukraine, he added.

“Europe deserves not to be a mere bystander, and its leaders are reduced to sending to X after the agreement has already been made. Europe needs to create conditions for those agreements,” said Zelenskyy.

He supported Trump’s call for Nato members to spend 5 percent of gross domestic product on defense.

“If it takes 5 percent of GDP to protect defense, so be it.”

Zelenskyy did not comment on Trump’s desire to end the war quickly – although the US president and his advisers recently said it could take six months to reach an agreement, unlike the hours his campaign has boasted 24. He also did not address those Trump supporters who called for an end to US aid to Ukraine.

He insisted that his relations with Trump are “good”, but said that some of the president’s allies have lied about Ukraine and used information from Russian propaganda, so it is even more important that Europe has a voice and high resistance to those messages.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the WEF earlier on Tuesday that the EU will stand by Ukraine even if the US cuts its support.

He said: “We will continue to support Ukraine without question, whatever happens next.