The Ukrainian president has been in Switzerland on an official visit and will be attending the annual WEF for the first time in person since the start of the war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is headlining a frenzied first full day of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in the Swiss ski resort of Davos, where top officials from the European Union, US, China and the Middle East will also take centre stage.
Zelenskyy will try to keep his country’s long and largely stalemated defense against Russia on the minds of political leaders, just as Israel’s war with Hamas, which passed the 100-day mark, has siphoned off much of the world’s attention and sparked concerns about a wider conflict in the Middle East.
Zelenskyy, once reticent about leaving his war-torn country, has recently gone on a whirlwind tour to try to rally support for Ukraine’s cause against Russia amid donor fatigue in the West and concerns that former US President Donald Trump – who touted having good relations with Putin – might return to the White House next year.
On Monday, Zelenskyy visited Switzerland’s capital Bern, where President Viola Amherd pledged her country would start working with Ukraine to help organize a “peace summit” for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy is following that up with his first trip to Davos as president after speaking by video in previous years. He hopes to parlay the high visibility of the event into a bully pulpit to showcase Ukraine’s pressing needs, and allies will be lining up: A morning, invitation-only “CEOs for Ukraine” session will precede his afternoon speech.
The corporate chiefs will hear “what kind of immediate assistance is needed” and lay out how private and public sectors can help Ukraine rebuild one day, forum organizers say. The session will draw NATO leader Jens Stoltenberg, German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck and US envoy for Ukraine’s economic recovery, Penny Pritzker, among others.
Later Tuesday, leaders of some of Ukraine’s key European allies – Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot and Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno – will participate in a session on the “horizons” for Ukraine.