NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg: We admire the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian political leadership, the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”NATO’s focus now is to support Ukraine, to ensure that Ukraine wins the war and prevails as a sovereign, independent democratic nation in Europe. NATO Allies are providing unprecedented military support to Ukraine and I’m calling on them to do even more. Weapons are the way to peace. The only way to have a negotiated agreement is to convince President Putin that they will not win on the battlefield.”
The Secretary-General described the war in Ukraine as a “fight for democracy,” stating that “it is extremely important that President Putin doesn’t win this war – it will be a tragedy for Ukrainians, but also very dangerous for all of us. Because then the message to authoritarian leaders, not only to Putin but also to other authoritarian leaders is that when they use brutal force when they violate international law, they achieve what they want. And that will be a very bad and dangerous lesson. It will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable.”
Other participants in the panel were President Andrzej Duda of Poland, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko of Ukraine, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland of Canada, and U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines. The discussion was moderated by CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.
While in Davos, Mr Stoltenberg had a bilateral meeting with President Gitanas Nausėda of Lithuania and also met with Swiss Federal Councillor Viola Amherd, Head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports; with the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska; Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, and other senior officials.
