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Every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged by Russian attacks, forcing millions to face heating cuts during winter, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “slave to war.”
The Munich Security Conference continued Saturday for its second day, with high-level speeches and panel discussions focusing on the future of the international order, transatlantic security, and regional conflicts. Ukraine remained central to the agenda.
Zelenskyy addressed officials days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion, which has killed hundreds of thousands, devastated eastern Ukraine, and forced millions to flee their homes.
Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Moscow of deliberately targeting Ukraine’s energy grid in an effort to freeze the population into submission.
“There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks,” Zelenskyy said. “Not one.”
“But we still generate electricity,” he added, praising thousands of workers repairing damaged facilities.
Zelenskyy called for faster deliveries of Western-supplied air defense systems, saying: “Sometimes we manage to deliver new missiles for our Patriots or NASAMS.”
He compared Putin, who launched the invasion in February 2022, to Adolf Hitler.
“He may see himself as a tsar, but in reality he is a war slave,” Zelenskyy said, adding that “no one in Ukraine believes (Putin) will let our people go.”
Russia and Ukraine are set to hold U.S.-brokered talks in Geneva next week, and Zelenskyy said Kyiv was doing “everything” to end the war.
Russia has demanded that Ukraine withdraw from the Donetsk region and recognize territories currently under Russian occupation. Zelenskyy said Ukraine is expected to make more concessions than Moscow.
“The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed in the context only of Ukraine,” he said.
Ukraine has said that giving up its eastern territories is unacceptable.
Zelenskyy accused Putin of wanting to “repeat” Munich 1938, when Czechoslovakia was divided in a failed attempt to prevent war, with World War II breaking out a year later.
“It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine, just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a great war,” he said.
Zelenskyy said viable security guarantees are the only way to reach a lasting agreement and prevent future invasions.
“With Russia, you cannot leave a single loophole Russians can use to start a war,” he said.
The Geneva talks will follow two rounds of U.S.-Russia-Ukraine negotiations held in Abu Dhabi in January and earlier this month.
With no diplomatic breakthrough in sight, Zelenskyy urged Western allies to accelerate political decision-making.
“Weapons evolve faster than political decisions meant to stop them,” he said, noting that Iranian-designed Shahed drones used by Russia have become increasingly deadly as the war drags on.
Zelenskyy also reiterated that Ukraine will hold elections once it receives security guarantees and a ceasefire is agreed upon.
He then joked, drawing applause: “We can also give a ceasefire to the Russians if they will do elections in Russia.”
Putin has led Russia since New Year’s Eve 1999.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to their first exchange of war prisoners in five months following the Abu Dhabi talks. The Kremlin said Friday that the next round of peace talks will take place Feb. 17-18 in Geneva, Switzerland.
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