Zelenskiy: We will defend ourselves with or without our partners

Zelenskiy told Munich Security Conference that Ukraine will defend its land with or without partner assistance.

These comments he made after a meeting he held in the margins of this conference with US Vice President Kamala Harris. The latter said at Munich's Conference that any further invasion of Ukraine from Russia would be followed by the strengthening of NATO's eastern wing and that Moscow would face consequences “unprecedented”.
“We will not stop with economic measures. We will further strengthen our NATO allies on the east side of” in response to an invasion, Harris said on February 19th, while attending the Munich Security Conference.

In the event of the Russian attack, Harris also warned that Russia would face financial costs of “paprecedent” and added that such an attack would bring European allies closer to the US.

These comments by Harris came a day after the president of the United States, Joe Biden, said he was “born” that Russian President Vladimir Putin has made the decision to invade Ukraine.

The West says Russia has gathered over 150,000 troops along the Ukrainian border and that Moscow is preparing to invade Ukraine, but the Kremlin rejects these claims, saying there are no such plans.

Allow me to be clear when I say with absolute certainty: If Russia further invades Ukraine, the United States, together with our partners and allies, we will set large economic and unprecedented costs”, Harris said.

Zelenskiy said in Munich that Western powers should give up what he called soft “policy” dated Moscow.

“Ukrainian has acknowledged security guarantees for abandoning the world's third largest nuclear arsenal. We don't have guns. And no security... But we have the right to seek from a mild policy in a policy that guarantees security and peace”, he said.

The world has failed to face Ukraine because the security architecture cannot be fixed, Zelenski said.

Europe's “Archaeological security site is almost destroyed. It's too late to talk about its” arrangement, he said.

The Ukrainian leader criticised states that have not offered military assistance to Kiev, saying the assistance given so far was more “as a cough syrup than a good vaccine for COVID-19” against a real threat that could expand across Europe after it first hit Ukraine.

For eight years, Ukraine has served as a shield. A reliable shield that has restrained one of the largest armies in the world”, he said.

Harris: US urges diplomatic solution to crisis

During the conference in Munich, Vice President Harris said that the Biden administration, along with the Allies, has asked that they engage in good will with Moscow to find a diplomatic solution, but the Kremlin had no good will.

“Russia continues to say it is ready for talks, but at the same time narrows roads for diplomacy”, Harris said.

Their “Actions simply do not correspond to their words”, the US vice president added.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, during this event held in Munich, Germany, said that if Western states fail to keep their promises of support for Ukraine's independence, there would be consequences worldwide, including Taiwan.

Each time Western ministers visited Kiev, we have assured the people of Ukraine and their leaders that we support their sovereignty and independence”, Johnson said.

If Ukraine is endangered, the shock will echo worldwide. And those echoes will be heard in East Asia, heard in Taiwan”, he added.

Stoltenberg Urges Russia to Stop War Preparations

Earlier Saturday, Secretary General NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, called on Russia to withdraw troops from the border with Ukraine and work to resolve the crisis peacefully.

At the Munich Security Conference, Stoltenberg said that so far they have not seen signals supporting Moscow's claims that the withdrawal of troops to Ukraine has begun, but, according to him, the opposite is happening.

“We urge Moscow to do what it says it is doing, withdraw troops from the Ukrainian borders. This would be an important first step toward a peaceful solution. It is not too late for Russia to change course, back down, stop preparations for war and start working on a peaceful solution”, Stoltenberg said.

He said the military gathering in and around Ukraine is the largest since the Cold War.

Moscow has claimed it has started withdrawing troops from the Ukrainian border, but NATO and the United States have said they have not seen such signals.

We don't know what's going to happen, but the risk of conflict is real. NATO Allies are continuing their powerful diplomatic efforts to find a” political solution, Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg said he has sent the invitation to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to meet together with NATO and its allies under the NATO-Russia Council, as he added that the military alliance is continuing diplomatic efforts to find a political solution.

Speaking of the security requirements presented by Russia, Stoltenberg said Moscow knows some demands cannot be realised.

The danger is now combining this massive military gathering with threatening rhetoric, putting forward demands that they know we cannot meet and say: If you don't meet these requirements, there will be military consequences”, Stoltenberg said.

This is the new normal, where we have Russia openly opposing the core values for European security and then shows the will to use force or threatens to use force to get what it wants”, he said.

Russia has demanded that NATO never accept Ukraine and that the alliance withdraw from Eastern and Central Europe. Stoltenberg noted that for the first time, China has joined Russia in calling on the military alliance to reject new members.

Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during the panel in Munich said Russia risks losing prosperity if it invades Ukraine, pledging there would be a package of economic and financial sanctions on Moscow in case of any aggression.

She said the European Union is ready to stop Russian gas supplies.

“I can say that in case we stop with gas supplies from Russia, we will be safe during this winter of”, she said.

Von der Leyen accused Russian gas giant Gazprom that “objectively is trying to send as little supplies as possible, meanwhile, prices and demand are large”. / REL