KYIV — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky aimed a blistering speech at Europe during the World Economic Forum on Thursday after a last-minute meeting with President Donald Trump, which both leaders described as “good,” saying framework documents between the two countries — in hopes of ending the conflict — were nearing the final stages.
After nearly four years of full-scale war, Zelensky described how life in Ukraine felt like the movie “Groundhog Day” with ramped-up attacks coming amid a brutally cold winter. All the while Europe is still unequipped to defend itself against Russia, he said, which has not slowed its assault since 2022.
As a result, Zelensky said, “the backstop of Trump is needed” with no security guarantees functioning without the United States. He emphasized that Europe needed to be a united force: “Europe should not be a salad of small and middle powers.”
“Europe loves to discuss the future but avoids taking action today, action that defines what kind of future we will have,” Zelensky said in his speech in Davos, Switzerland, following the hour-long meeting with Trump. “If [Russian President Vladimir] Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond? … Tomorrow you may have to defend your way of life.”
The speech, which received a standing ovation, didn’t appear to have been originally scheduled. Zelensky scrambled to get to Switzerland after Trump on Wednesday unexpectedly said that he planned to meet with Zelensky that very day, adding that he might even “be in the audience.”
In fact, Zelensky was still in Kyiv. He had told reporters on Tuesday — as the forum was already underway — that he probably would remain in the capital, “choosing Ukraine, not an economic forum,” as millions of Ukrainians froze in their homes and workers rushed to fix an electrical grid battered by Russian drones and missiles.
European nations, which have become Ukraine’s chief military and financial backers, recently approved a $105 billion loan to Kyiv at the European Union, which will provide a critical lifeline to keep funding the state and the army’s fight.
Asked about Zelensky’s criticism, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday night, “On our side, actions speak louder than words.”
“We know that we will never match the sacrifice of the Ukrainian people,” she told reporters in Brussels. “But what we can do is stand by their side, and the figures speak for themselves, but also the personal engagement of all of us.”
Some had hoped a Trump-Zelensky meeting might lead to the inking of frameworks for security guarantees and postwar economic recovery, with officials hinting the two countries were close to the finish line. But a senior Ukrainian official on Thursday said that no documents had been prepared for signing in Davos, and a key priority of the meeting was to discuss additional air defense systems.
In his speech, however, Zelensky did say that the documents to end the war “are nearly ready and that really matters.” He added, however, that more pressure needed to be put on Russia to make it agree to end the war and Ukraine couldn’t be the only country making compromises.
The meeting in the Swiss Alps was closed to the press and there were no statements at its conclusion. On his way out, however, Trump told reporters that “the meeting was good with President Zelensky, we still have a ways to go” — stepping back from his message on Wednesday, that both sides were “reasonably close” and “at a point now where they can come together and get a deal done. And if they don’t, they’re stupid.”
He added that the message his envoys would take to Putin on Thursday night in Moscow would be “the war needed to end.”
At a question-and-answer session following his speech Thursday, Zelensky acknowledged that “this last mile is very difficult” and “Russians have to be ready for compromises, not just Ukraine.”
Despite the optimism expressed by the White House, the two sides still appear to be far apart in negotiations. In a news conference Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called into question any deal that allowed the continuing existence of the current Ukrainian government.
“Any settlement proposal founded on the primary goal of preserving the current Nazi regime in what remains of the Ukrainian state is, naturally, completely unacceptable to us,” he said.
White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — who met with lead Ukrainian negotiator Rustem Umerov on the sidelines of the forum — met with Putin late Thursday.
The talks in Moscow “lasted about four hours and were extremely substantive, constructive, and, I would say, extremely frank and trusting,” said Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy adviser. “Overall, I would say that the meeting between the Russian president and U.S. representatives was specifically focused on obtaining information on the results of American contacts with Ukrainians and European partners and together determining the parameters for further action.”
But Ushakov also indicated that Russia continues to insist on a peace deal on its terms, referring to earlier iterations of a peace proposal that was unacceptable to Kyiv. “As Vladimir Putin emphasized, we are sincerely interested in resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic means,” he said, “but until that happens, Russia will continue to pursue the goals set by the military operation. It is on the battlefield, where the Russian armed forces have the strategic initiative.”
Earlier Thursday, speaking at the forum’s Ukrainian Breakfast on Thursday morning, Witkoff said that he felt “encouraged” and described the Ukrainian people as “so courageous in this fight … under some real difficult conditions.”
“I think we’ve got it down to one issue, and we have discussed iterations of that issue,” Witkoff said, appearing to gesture at territorial concessions, one of the most contentious aspects of the negotiations and a red line for Ukraine. “That means it’s solvable. So if both sides want to solve this, we are going to get this solved; that’s my view.”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on whether the Kremlin shared Witkoff’s optimism that a deal was close. At a news conference, Putin said he would also discuss Russia’s contribution to Trump’s “Board of Peace” with Witkoff and Kushner.
As world leaders congregated in Davos, enjoying mountain views, plush lodges and crackling fireplaces, Ukraine’s power grid remained crippled during one of the coldest winters in years. Without electricity, many Ukrainians sought refuge in restaurants and coffee shops, kept running by generators. Outside, inches of ice slicked the streets and sidewalks. The windows of thousands of apartments remained dark.
Concluding his speech, Zelensky said, “Let’s end this Groundhog Day.”
Robyn Dixon in Riga, Latvia, Kostiantyn Khudov in Kyiv and Ellen Francis in Brussels contributed to this report.
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