DAVOS
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Europe should develop a joint defense policy and be willing to increase spending to guarantee its own security from emerging threats.
\nHis comments to the World Economic Forum in Davos came a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has demanded NATO members raise their defense spending and boasted he can end the war in Ukraine, without offering a clear roadmap.
\nZelensky said Europe needed to be ready to stand on its own feet and must work to remain relevant as a \u201cstrong global\u201d player and \u201cindispensable\u201d on the global stage.
\n\u201cWe need a united European security and defense policy, and all European countries must be willing to spend as much on security as is truly needed,\u201d Zelensky argued in his address to the WEF.
\n\u201cEurope must be able to guarantee peace and security for itself,\u201d he added.
\nHe evoked the Kremlin\u2019s deployment of North Korean troops to western Russia to illustrate what he said were growing threats to European security.
\n\u201cEuropean leaders should remember this \u2014 battles involving North Korean soldiers are now happening in places geographically closer to Davos than to Pyongyang,\u201d he said.
\nAnd he pointed to a recent pact between Russia and Iran boosting their economic and military cooperation, saying the accord was an example of a changing landscape that was a threat to Europe.
\n\u201cWhom do they make such deals against? Against you, against all of us,\u201d he said. \u201cSuch threats can only be countered together,\u201d he added.
\nZelensky also questioned whether Trump was committed to NATO and European security, claiming that Washington has openly indicated their security priorities lie in the Middle East and in the Asia-Pacific region.
\n\u201cWill President Trump even notice Europe? Does he see NATO as necessary? And will he respect EU institutions?\u201d Zelensky asked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DAVOS Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Europe should develop a joint defense policy and be willing to increase spending to guarantee its own security from emerging threats. His comments to the World Economic Forum in Davos came a day after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, who has demanded NATO members raise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-456893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n