Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s Prime Minister, speaks on the second day of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, February 17, 2024.
Bloomberg | Getty Images
MUNICH, Germany – The West suffers from a “colossal lack of imagination” if it believes Russia’s war in Ukraine will not hit it next, European politicians have been told, amid calls for a doubling of transatlantic support for Kiev .
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized delegates to the Munich Security Conference on Saturday for a fading sense of urgency as Moscow’s major offensive enters almost its third year.
“The sense of urgency is simply not clear enough in our discussions,” Frederiksen said in a lunch meeting. “We have to go faster and scale up.”
Frederiksen cited Europe’s claims of production limits as a reason for it not providing more military aid to Ukraine, noting that the continent has existing supplies that it can and should share.
“This is not just a question of production, because we have weapons, we have ammunition, we have air defense that we do not need to use ourselves at the moment, which we should supply to Ukraine,” she said.
Denmark has now donated all of its artillery to Ukraine, Frederiksen said, calling on other countries to do the same as the war marks its second anniversary on February 24.
“There should be new deliveries on Saturday,” she said. “Words will not solve this situation.”
He [Putin] will recruit Ukrainians into his army to attack us.
Radoslaw Sikorski
Foreign Minister of Poland
Frederiksen’s opinion was echoed by others in the room. The policymakers spoke at the 7th Munich Ukrainian Luncheon, hosted on the sidelines of the MSC by the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Forum and the Ukrainian non-profit Victor Pinchuk Foundation. Sweden’s Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said countries must give Ukraine “what we already have.”
The comments came hours after Ukrainian troops withdrew from the eastern city of Avdiivka, a long-time military stronghold, to avoid Russian encirclement. The fall of Avdiivka marks the biggest change on the frontline since Moscow’s capture of Bakhmut in May, and offers Russia a new base from which to launch regional attacks that can be presented as a moralizing success at home.
Russian forces now reportedly control nearly a fifth of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory. As they push further into the country, seize more territory and install Russian leadership through sham elections, Ukrainian forces may eventually be forced to fight for Moscow, Poland’s foreign minister said.
“He [Putin] will recruit Ukrainians into its army to attack us,” said Radosław Sikorski.
The dogs of war
Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said he believes politicians are beginning to recognize the urgency of this reality, but that it is now up to them to convince their voters.
“We need to open the eyes of every citizen in Europe to understand that the life we enjoy, the life we want to be secure, can disappear, as has happened many times in history,” Denkov said. “It is urgent.”
As the war progressed, public interest shifted from Ukraine to other global crises, including in the Middle East, as well as domestic and security concerns.
In the United States, a record new funding package including $61 billion for Ukraine is currently being negotiated in the House of Representatives as lawmakers dispute the importance of the war in Eastern Europe to American interests.
A Ukrainian soldier from the 47th Mechanized Brigade prepares to fight a Bradley Fighting Vehicle not far from Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, Feb. 11, 2024, amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Genya Savilov | Afp | Getty Images
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Saturday she was confident the bill would be passed – likely in March – and insisted the “reality” was concerns in both the US and Europe about providing more ammunition to Ukraine , should have overcome.
“We have to do a much better job of convincing ourselves, our countries, our governments that we have to stand with Ukraine and make sure it wins,” she said in Munich.
This urgency was also made clear by the Ukrainian soldiers who spoke at the event. One woman, a former college lecturer who fought at the front and was held captive for three months, moved many in the room to tears and drew a standing ovation when she referred to her people as “the dogs of war.”
“We are the dogs of war,” she said. “The more blood you give her [war]the more she wants.”
Colossal failure of imagination
Historian Niall Ferguson, meanwhile, chided Western leaders for their “colossal failure of imagination” in recognizing that they too could become these “dogs of war.”
“It’s like we just can’t imagine this happening to us,” he said, conjuring up images of Europeans and Americans fighting in World War II. “Why can’t we imagine that?”
“We must help our people imagine these dogs of war,” he continued. “Make these dogs of war visible to voters and politicians.”
That responsibility will become even more urgent as Russia steps up its psychological warfare, Clinton said, citing what she called an “extraordinary” attempt by Moscow to influence opinions and policymaking.
A lunch meeting at the Munich Security Conference with the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia, Kaja Kallas, the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, the former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen and the Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov.
CNBC
“We are seeing an extraordinary effort, a successful effort, I believe, to influence minds, influence political decision-making and make it difficult for political leaders in Bulgaria and elsewhere to really persuade the population because they have so many other messages “through social media and other sources,” she said.
A December report found that fake TikTok accounts were used to spread disinformation about Russia’s war in Ukraine to millions of people and “artificially amplify pro-Russian narratives.”
“We can’t just assume that this is an area they have [Russia] “We will dominate without resisting them, and we are not even in the same arena,” Clinton continued, noting that Russia already influences much of Africa, Asia and Latin America.
“Their message about what this war is about, who the aggressor is and what the consequences are remains unanswered.”
Source link
2024-02-18 14:10:43
www.cnbc.com
