MUNICH: Russia's war against Ukraine will not end quickly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday at a major security conference.
"I think it's wise to prepare for a long war," Scholz said at the opening of the Munich Security Conference.
Previously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video address to the conference that he expected the war to end in 2023.
But Scholz said it is important for the West to support Ukraine for as long as necessary and spoke out against any speculation over a time when the war would end.
At the same time, he emphasised that he was confident that the German population would support the federal government's course.
Zelensky, referring to the David and Goliath biblical story, in which his country is the weaker David who overcomes the stronger Goliath,seen as Russia, said that Goliath had started to "lose his ground" and will "definitely fall" this year.
French President Emmanuel Macron too urged allies to intensify their military support for Ukraine to help the country carry out a needed counter-offensive against Russia.
"We absolutely need to intensify our support and our effort to the resistance of the Ukrainian people and its army and help them to launch a counter-offensive which alone can allow credible negotiations, determined by Ukraine, its authorities and its people", Macron said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference.
Macron added now was not the time for a dialogue with Russia.
Macron also suggested hosting a conference in Paris on Europe's air defence, and for massive investments in defence to combat challenges facing the continent.
"I hope that, with our German, Italian and British partners -- and all those who wish to join us in Europe -- we will be able to organise a conference in Paris on Europe's air defence," he told the conference.
The continent must "reinvest massively in our defence if we Europeans want peace," he said.
ZELENSKY PLEADS FOR WEAPONS
Meanwhile, Zelensky urged world leaders to speed up support at the opening of the conference.
Allies have delivered an array of weaponry to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war and pledged more, but Kyiv fears crucial supplies will arrive too slowly to defend against major new offensives.
"We need to hurry up," Zelensky told the start of the three-day gathering via video link. "We need speed -- speed of our agreements, speed of our delivery... speed of decisions to limit Russian potential".
There is no "alternative", as people's lives were on the line, he said.
The key annual conference comes just days ahead of the February 24 anniversary of Moscow sending its forces into the country, unleashing war in Europe for the first time in decades.
It is being attended by the leaders of France and Germany, as well US Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, China's top diplomat Wang Yi and Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg.
Zelensky also insisted that there was "no alternative" to Ukraine triumphing in its fight against President Vladimir Putin's troops, and "no alternative" to Kyiv joining the EU and Nato.
FROM TANKS TO JETS
Zelensky has now shifted focus to pleading for Western fighter jets, though Ukraine's allies have so far been cool on the subject.
Russian delegates including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was a regular attendee at Munich in the past, have not been invited.
Representing Ukraine at the conference, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he planned talks with a series of top officials focused on weapons supplies.
He is also expected to join a meeting of foreign ministers from the G7 club of rich countries on Saturday, on the sidelines of the conference.
With signs that Russia is managing to adapt to the sanctions imposed following its invasion, the United States and its allies plan a major array of new measures against Moscow to mark the war's anniversary, a US official said.
At one of the event's opening panels, conference chairman Christoph Heusgen said the "Russian aggression" amounts to a "battle of between the rule of law, and the law of the strongest".
The Munich conference stands for "the rules-based order", he added.
US-China ties will also be in focus at the gathering, with tensions sky-high after Washington shot down an alleged Chinese surveillance balloon over US territory.
With a high-level US delegation including Harris and Blinken in town, and a senior Chinese team led by Wang, there has been speculation of talks on the sidelines to ease tensions amid the spy balloon row.
The huge white balloon from China was spotted over a series of secret nuclear weapons sites earlier this month, before being shot down just off the eastern US coast.
The incident prompted a diplomatic rift, with Blinken cancelling a rare China visit. Beijing, however, says the balloon was just a stray weather research craft. -- AFP
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