Davos (Switzerland)- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “maximum” sanctions against Russia during a virtual speech on the first day of the World Economic Forum gathering of corporate executives, government officials and other VIPs in Davos, Switzerland.
He said sanctions needed further to stop Russia’s aggression, including an oil embargo, blocking all its banks and cutting off trade with Russia completely.
“This is what sanctions should be: They should be maximum so that Russia and every other potential aggressor that wants to wage a brutal war against its neighbour would know the immediate consequences of their actions,” Zelenskyy said through a translator.
He said that should be a precedent that will work for decades. He also pushed for the complete withdrawal of foreign companies from Russia to prevent supporting its war and said Ukraine needs funding — at least $5 billion per month.
“If we had received 100 percent of our needs at once, back in February, the result would be tens of thousands of lives saved — this is why Ukraine needs all the weapons that we ask for, not just the ones we’ve been provided with,” Zelenskyy said.
The Group of Seven leading economies agreed Friday to provide $19.8 billion in economic aid to Ukraine to help keep tight finances from hindering its ability to defend itself.
Zelenskyy’s speech is a crucial focus Monday at Davos, the village in the Swiss Alps that has been transformed into a glitzy venue for the four-day confab ostensibly dedicated to making the world a better place. The event is resuming in person after a two-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which also delayed this year’s meeting from its usual winter slot.
There’s much to tackle amid soaring food and fuel prices, Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate change, inequality, and persistent health crises for the attendees. But it’s hard to predict if the high-minded discussions will yield important announcements that make headway on the world’s most pressing challenges.
“This war is a turning point of history, and it will reshape our political and our economic landscape in the coming years,” said the event’s founder, Klaus Schwab.
Zelenskyy, who received a standing ovation after these remarks, reiterated that Russia was blocking critical food supplies, such as wheat and sunflower oil, from leaving its ports and stealing some.
Ukraine, along with Russia, is a major exporter of wheat, barley and sunflower oil. The interruption of those supplies threatens food insecurity in countries in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia that rely on those affordable supplies.
The U.N.’s World Food Program head called for Ukraine’s ports to reopen, saying the region’s farmers “grow enough food to feed 400 million people.”