Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba Slams Allies For Telling Ukraine 'Don't Escalate' War

Ukraine on Thursday posed objection to the countries pressurising it against escalation of the hostilities during the ongoing war with Russia. In a speech at the Ukrainian Breakfast organized by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, urged the allies to “completely remove the concept of avoiding escalation” from decision-making process.

"We've been hearing since the day one 'Don't escalate here, we cannot do this because we don't want to escalate there.' And so many opportunities were lost because of that,” asserted Kuleba. “So, this concept should be completely abandoned, should be removed from the decision-making process, because everything that happened on almost last two years proves that it's just a harmful thing to do," he reiterated.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister went on to add, that ”none of the apocalyptic prophecies of Russian retaliation proved true." He emphasised that the Russian Federation “should not be underestimated, but we should not overestimate Russian capacity to escalate.” 

‘I don’t believe Vladimir Putin is capable of changing’: Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told Børge Brende, the President of the World Economic Forum, on the sidelines, "I don’t believe Vladimir Putin is capable of changing, only humans can do that.” Furthermore, during his address at the forum, he derided Putin saying, "How much longer will the people of Russia allow Putin? And afterwards, it's not important whether it's war or elections or to be the head of state. The question is, for how long will the people allow it? That is the principle of democracy, and this is the difference.”

Zelenskyy urged the people of Russia to “change their thinking.” He told the forum, “for long are people ready to not hear anything, to be deaf, to not see anything, to pretend everything's okay, everything is going well. That's the question for the people of the Russian Federation.” While he appealed to Russians to embrace a change in their leadership, the Ukrainian President also met with the investors to seek financial support for the war.