Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surprised the security conference in Munich by saying that Ukraine has no other option but to join the EU and NATO. He started his speech to heads of state all over the world with a reference to the biblical story in which David defeated the mighty Goliath with only a slingshot. – David is now us, all of us. There is no other alternative than to overcome the Goliath who came to destroy our lives, he said. Kharkiv, shortly after the invasion started last year. Photo: STRINGER / Reuters – I understand that a leader who is in a bloody war and defends his country, that he looks for every opportunity to be able to strengthen that defense. It is not a topic that is discussed in NATO today, says Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to news. – Today, the member states are preoccupied with being able to support Ukraine in the defense battle they are fighting. Now we have to concentrate all our efforts on it. Heads of state from all over the world have gathered for the annual insurance conference in Munich. Støre is present in Munich together with four other Norwegian ministers. For the first time, Russia has not been invited to Munich, and neither has Iran. news met the prime minister at the insurance conference in Munich. Make a new weapons appeal Zelenskyj also encouraged to speed up the delivery of weapons to the battlefield. – Being David means fighting, and we fight. But we still don’t have David’s sling, he added, and asked the heads of state to speed up arms deliveries to Ukraine. In this he received support from the German Chancellor, Olav Scholz. Olav Scholz was clear that several allied countries should send tanks to Ukraine Photo: Michael Probst / AP – Allies who have tanks available should send them to Ukraine immediately, he said in his opening speech. This marks a shift in Germany’s attitude towards arms support. It took four months of pressure before Scholz agreed that the German-made Leopard tanks could be sent to Ukraine. Støre says that weapons arrive in Ukraine faster today than they did at the start of the war, but that it can always be even faster. – Could be long-lasting Regarding Zelenskyj’s closing comment that next year’s meeting could be a “post-war conference”, Støre was more in doubt. – There is nothing that would please me more than that, but I think we also have to be prepared for the chance that it could be prolonged, and that it could be terribly expensive, not least for the Ukrainians but also for a world that does not need this the war. news also met the mayor of Kyiv, Vitalij Klitschko, outside the conference room. – This war can be stopped by one person. It is the same person who started this war, and is in Moscow, he says. – Right now we only see one way to keep the Russians awake, and that is by defending our homeland. The head of the insurance conference, Christoph Heusgen, opened the event, which lasts until Sunday. Photo: THOMAS KIENZLE / AFP There is an unusually large attendance at the insurance conference this year. Almost all European heads of government are present, together with top leaders from the USA and China. The relationship between the last two is a tense moment during the conference, after the shooting down of a Chinese balloon over the state of South Carolina earlier this month. Finland: – It may be relevant to become a NATO member without Sweden Another central topic is Swedish and Finnish NATO membership, which requires approval from all member countries to come into force. Turkey has shown reluctance to approve Sweden’s application for a number of reasons. A Koran burning in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm last month made the relationship even more difficult than before. Until now, Sweden and Finland have wanted to join NATO together. But if Turkey approves Finland’s application first, the authorities will not withdraw or stop the process. Until now, Finland and Sweden have wanted to become NATO members at the same time. Photo: Jeppe Gustafsson/Shutterstock / Shutterstock editorial President Sauli Niinistö told several Finnish media on Friday, ahead of the insurance conference. – If Turkey approves Finland’s NATO application before Sweden’s, Finland cannot do anything about it. On Friday, the foreign affairs committee in Helsinki voted yes to Finland’s national assembly as a whole approving Finnish NATO membership. The committee emphasized that the country should join the defense alliance as quickly as possible, but also that Finland should ideally join together with Sweden. Turkey has previously been open to accepting Finland as a NATO member on its own.
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