Get out of Greenland mode and stand up for yourself, Zelenskyy tells Europe

Original article by Andrew Roth Global affairs correspondent

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has taken aim at Europe in a fiery speech at Davos, accusing leaders of being in “Greenland mode” as they waited for leadership from Donald Trump on Ukraine and other geopolitical crises rather than taking action themselves.

The Ukrainian president’s call-to-arms, targeting some of Kyiv’s top allies, capped a week of extraordinary diplomatic drama at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort, where European leaders scrambled to end a standoff with the White House over Greenland, and several western leaders – led by Canada’s Mark Carney – called for stronger pushback against Trump’s territorial ambitions and political whims.

Zelenskyy used his speech to demand greater pressure on the Kremlin, as Trump dispatched his envoy Steve Witkoff to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin on Thursday in the latest effort to advance peace talks between the two countries.

Despite Trump’s limited and scattershot support for Ukraine since taking office one year ago, Zelenskyy focused instead on Europe’s role in the conflict, accusing the continent’s leaders of complacency and inaction.

“Just last year, here in Davos, I ended my speech with the words ‘Europe needs to know how to defend itself’,” Zelenskyy said. “A year has passed, and nothing has changed.”

He added: “Europe remains in Greenland mode: maybe someone somewhere will do something.”

Zelenskyy’s speech nodded toward the extraordinary demands by Trump for the US to take over Greenland, but largely eschewed criticism of the US president, instead blaming Europeans for remaining at the behest of an increasingly unpredictable White House.

He delivered his speech as Ukraine endures a bitter winter, with Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure cutting power and heating to much of the capital, Kyiv, as well as other major cities across the country.

Headlines and talks during the annual gathering of world leaders and financial heavyweights have been dominated by Trump’s demands to take over Greenland and then his announcement of the “future framework of a deal” that would allow the US access to Greenland “forever”.

Zelenskyy said: “Everyone gave attention to Greenland, and it is clear most leaders are not sure what to do about it. It seems like everyone is just waiting for America to cool down on this topic, hoping it will pass away. But what if it [does] not: what then?”

Some European leaders have echoed those sentiments, with Poland’s Donald Tusk calling Greenland an “unneeded” distraction from Russia’s war in Ukraine and efforts to disrupt Europe.

Ireland’s Micheál Martin said that European leaders “cannot lose focus on the situation in Ukraine”, calling the situation “desperate”, but crediting the US with a “critical” role in achieving “a just and fair and sustainable peace in Ukraine”.

“Sending 14 or 40 soldiers to Greenland – what is that meant to achieve?” Zelenskyy said. “What message does that send to Putin? To China? And perhaps, most importantly, what message does it send to Denmark?”

During his speech, he also suggested that Ukraine could help defend Europe in the event of a Russian invasion of Greenland, saying: “We know what to do if Russian warships go near Greenland, Ukraine can help with that. They can sink near Greenland just as they do near Crimea.”

Zelenskyy said that Europe should play a more muscular role in targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, which help bankroll its war machine, and said it remained too easy for Russia to bypass sanctions and to continue mass-producing missiles and other ordinance.

The threats to Europe were existential for Nato, he said, and Europe needed a “united armed forces” that could defend the continent.

“Today, Europe relies only on the belief that if danger comes, then Nato will react. But no one has really seen the alliance in action. If Putin decides to take Lithuania or strike Poland, who will respond? Right now, Nato exists thanks to the belief that the United States will act … but what if it doesn’t?”

Zelenskyy’s speech was delivered shortly after he met Trump to discuss stalled talks for a peace deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Trump told reporters that his meeting with Zelenskyy was “good” but that there was “a ways to go”. Witkoff, who is to meet Putin later on Thursday, said the fact that the meeting was called by the Russians was a good sign.

“I think we’ve got it down to one issue and we have discussed iterations of that issue, and that means it’s solvable,” Witkoff said before flying to Moscow. He was joined by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

Asked at Davos whether he had a message for Putin, Trump said: “The war has to end.”

Trump on Thursday also unveiled his international “board of peace”, established to manage a peace process in Gaza. Critics have said that the ill-defined board appears to be a shadow United Nations.

Ukraine, along with Russia and Belarus, had been invited to join the initiative but so far had demurred.

“For us, it’s understandable that we will be on this board when the war will end,” said Zelenskyy. For now “we are enemies [with the Russians]. Belarus is an ally of the Russians. We can’t be with them.”