Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on his country's allies to ramp up support in the fight against the Russian invasion, saying his country's fighters are only limited by their weapons.
Ukraine has already dispelled numerous myths in nearly two years of bloody fighting since Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a full-scale invasion, Zelensky said in a speech on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference.
"Ukrainians have proven that we can force Russia to retreat and that we are capable of restoring the rules. And with this, we leave absolutely nothing of the key Russian myth, that Ukraine supposedly cannot win this war," Zelensky said. "We can get our land back and Putin can lose. This has already happened more than once on the battlefield."
Ukraine's efforts are only limited by an "artificial deficit of weapons" - particularly long-range missiles and artillery - imposed on the country by its allies and supporters, Zelensky said.
Zelensky was in southern Germany on the second day of the 60th edition of the Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of top political and defence officials to debate international security policy.
"If we don't act now, Putin will succeed in turning the next few years into a catastrophe," the Ukrainian president told the conference.
Zelensky's comments came after the address by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who called on EU partners to follow Berlin's example and ramp up aid for Ukraine, saying it is in member states' own security interest to do so.
For the current year, Germany has almost doubled its military aid to more than €7 billion ($7.5 billion), with commitments for the coming years totalling €6 billion, the German leader said.
He very much hoped "that similar decisions would be taken in all EU capitals," Scholz said.
Zelensky expressed his thanks for new security agreements signed with Germany and France on Friday, which contain promises of long-term support and further arms deliveries but do not commit French or German troops to defend Ukraine.
However, Zelensky also warned urgently of the consequences of the war: the longer it lasts, the greater the risk of it spreading and further damaging the international order.
"If we don't act now, Putin will manage to make the next few years catastrophic for other nations as well," Zelensky said, warning that a victorious Russia could destroy Ukraine and then threaten the Baltic states and Poland.
Zelensky's comments on the range of weapons appeared to be at least partially a reference to Scholz's refusal so far to provide German-made Taurus cruise missiles, despite repeated pleas from Ukraine.
Ukraine has been seeking the advanced missiles to strike targets well behind the front line, but Scholz has expressed concerns that the weapons could escalate the conflict by hitting targets within Russia itself.
Scholz also addressed NATO allies in his speech, speaking out against any questioning of the alliance's mutual security pledges.
"Let me also make it clear: any relativization of NATO's guarantee of mutual assistance will only benefit those who - like Putin - want to weaken us," Scholz said on Saturday.
He was clearly reacting to statements made by former US president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump, who had made it clear during an election campaign appearance that he would not grant Washington's support to allies with low defence spending in the event of a Russian attack.
Trump, who is running against current US President Joe Biden, has also expressed scepticism about continued US support for Ukraine and encouraged fellow Republicans to block a further aid package.
Zelensky repeatedly thanked the US and other allies for their support on Saturday, and extended a personal invitation for Trump to visit Ukraine, along with any other US lawmaker.
"If Mr Trump, if he will come, I am ready even to go with him to the front line," Zelensky said. "We have to demonstrate people who are decision makers, what does it mean? The real war - not in Instagram, real war."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg more pointedly urged US Republican politicians to approve the military aid for Ukraine requested by Biden.
"Every week we wait means that there will be more people killed on the front line in Ukraine," Stoltenberg said. "So it's not for me to give advice on how to pass legislation to the US Congress. But what I can say is the vital and urgent need for the US to decide on a package for Ukraine."
Stoltenberg acknowledged that the US has provided extensive support for Ukraine, but warned that the recent halt to further US military aid "has a direct impact on the front line in Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg was speaking on a panel at the conference alongside Republican US Senator Pete Ricketts and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.
Kallas warned that time was working for Putin.
The US Senate recently passed a Ukrainian aid package after lengthy delays, but it remains unclear whether it can pass the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives. Right-wing Republicans, encouraged by Trump, are opposed to further aid.
Ricketts expressed his conviction that his party would eventually pass Ukraine aid, but he defended the delays as part of an effort to force Biden to take a tougher stance on immigration.
