Russian President Vladimir Putin will not win the war in Ukraine, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the final day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting.
“Putin must not win this war,” Scholz said in a keynote speech. “And I am convinced that he will not win it. He has already failed to achieve all his strategic goals.”
Scholz went on to reiterate western allies’ support for Ukraine and said that Putin cannot be allowed to dictate peace in the war he instigated.
His address caps four days of discussions among global business and political leaders, which were dominated by the war in Ukraine, a global food crisis, climate change and other hot-button issues. The gathering in the Swiss Alps had been suspended twice over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several Ukrainian officials had flown into Davos to drum up support for their country’s campaign to oust Russian forces, including foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba and the mayors of Kyiv and Bucha.
Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko told Euronews that the time for negotiating with the Russian president was long gone.
“(There is) no sense to talk to (Putin),” Klitschko said. “He is an unhealthy person because it was an unhealthy decision to make a war in the modern world, to have the crazy idea of rebuilding the Soviet Empire.”
In an earlier address, Klitschko appealed to leaders for help, in order to rebuild the Ukrainian capital. He said Kyiv needs 80 million euros to repair some 300 buildings that were destroyed during the war.
