President Zelensky tells global business leaders at Davos: ‘Do not deal with Russia anymore’

Ukraine’s President Volodoymyr Zelensky has told business leaders that the world cannot be ruled by “brute force” in an address at the World Economic Forum.

He also called for maximum sanctions against Russia, including an oil embargo to cripple the economy and prevent it from launching another assault on a country ever again.

Alluding to the theme of this year’s forum, President Zelensky told global and political leaders at the summit in Davos that “history is a turning point... when it is decided whether brute force will rule the world”.

He also said up to 100 Ukrainian troops are dying every day in the battle in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

A key part of the speech focused on sanctions and Mr Zelensky called for tougher measures to cripple Russia economically.

As well as a full embargo on Russian oil, he also called for all Russian banks to be barred from global systems and for all trade with Russia to be abandoned.

The Ukrainian leader also called on firms that have not yet ceased business operations in Russia to do so immediately, as a show of solidarity with Ukraine.

“We offer the world the chance to set a precedent for what happens if you try to destroy a neighbour,” he told the summit.

He argued that imposing stricter sanctions would prevent Russia, and any other country, from preparing and carrying out an unprovoked war on its neighbour in the future.

Mr Zelensky also used his speech to appeal for more weapons, saying Ukraine needs “all the weapons that we ask for, not just the ones that have been provided”.

He also said tens of thousands of lives would have been saved if they had got “100 per cent of our needs at once back in February”, when the invasion started.

Finishing off his speech, Mr Zelensky quoted former US secretary of state, George Marshall, who launched a programme to help rebuild Western Europe following the Second World War.

He said that Marshall’s famous words, that his recovery plan did not oppose any country or ideology but did oppose “hunger, poverty, despair and chaos”, are still “relevant today”.

“My proposals are all the same,” he said, stating that he hopes to rid Ukraine of hunger, poverty, despair and chaos.

He rounded off his speech with “glory to Ukraine”.

Around 2,000 political and business leaders are meeting in person at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

The event is the first in-person summit since the pandemic began.

Topics on the agenda include Ukraine, Covid recovery and climate change.