Zelenskyy invokes story of David and Goliath
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine compared his country’s fight against Russia to the biblical battle of David and Goliath, telling dozens of Western officials gathered in Munich for a security conference Friday that Western weapons would be the key to defeating “the Russian Goliath.”
Zelenskyy’s address came at the opening of the annual threeday Munich Security Conference, where Ukraine is dominating the discussions. Officials, who include Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, are aiming to show unity.
But that is likely to be tested as the war grinds on, and the cost of sustaining the Ukrainian fight with ever more and more powerful weapons against a larger
opponent threatens to create strains.
Zelenskyy acknowledged the real possibility of “fatigue” among Ukraine’s allies but stressed that the “united Davids” of the free world would prevail.
“Being David is having a sling to win,” Zelenskyy said in a video message. “We do not yet have the sling.”
He said that was why weapons deliveries must be accelerated, telling the audience, “we need to hurry up.”
“There is no alternative to speed, because it is the speed that life depends on,” he said. “Delay has always been, and still is, a mistake.”
Several prominent heads of state were in attendance, including President Emmanuel Macron of France, Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain.
The Ukrainian leader spoke as Russia has stepped up its offensive in eastern Ukraine. In recent weeks, Moscow has rushed tens of thousands more troops, many of them inexperienced new recruits, to the front lines as President Vladimir Putin’s forces seek to demonstrate progress before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion Feb. 24.
“David defeated Goliath not by the power of conversation but by the power of actions — by the power of the sling,” Zelenskyy said. “The sling should get stronger right now so that the next year we would gather here in Munich for the postwar security conference.”