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Zelenskyy takes the floor in Davos - All you need to know about day three
Our correspondents on the ground bring you all the highlights of the third and final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/22/zelenskyy-takes-the-floor-in-davos-all-you-need-to-know-about-day-three
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Our correspondents on the ground bring you all the highlights of the third and final day of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2026/01/22/zelenskyy-takes-the-floor-in-davos-all-you-need-to-know-about-day-three
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
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00:00Welcome to Davos After Hours on Euronews. I'm Marie Tadeo and I'm Jane Witherspoon.
00:14And of course, today we debriefed the third and final day here at the World Economic Forum in
00:19Davos. And Jane, you are a veteran. You've been here many times. Was this edition different?
00:23I thought the anticipation to come to this year's event was a lot more built up. You know,
00:30some of the delegations were bigger than they've had in previous years. Of course,
00:33a lot of that is to do with the fact that President Trump was here.
00:37Of course. And that's that Trump effect, right? And in that speech that he gave yesterday,
00:41there was a lot of anticipation, right?
00:42The speech that went on an hour over time. I mean, he really did entertain people, I will say that.
00:49Well, there's the entertainment factor. And obviously, in a way, this is a reality TV
00:52president. He knows how to work a camera. He knows how to build that hype. Although I should note,
00:56that speech was better than expected in some ways, right? There's a form of de-escalation,
01:00not as bad as some were anticipating. And certainly the Europeans thought,
01:04look, it wasn't as rough as it could have been.
01:06Definitely wasn't as harsh as I think people thought it might have been. That said,
01:10I do think the momentum has slowed down a lot today on the third day here in Davos.
01:14Right. And partly because Trump obviously left in the morning. And of course, it's the final day.
01:19And look, people are tired also. This is a very intense week. But also, just a final question,
01:23because I'm curious. What about the business side of things? Because to me, this felt like this year,
01:29it really was about, look, Davos is a place where you make connections and you try to make money.
01:34I do think it was. And obviously, there was the AI dialogue, which was huge across the board,
01:38everywhere across the town. But you're right. It was about business. It was about driving money,
01:43connections, trade industry. These are all conversations that people have been having.
01:48As you mentioned, Mr. Trump has been busy. But today, he was winding down. But he had an
01:53important morning meeting where he launched his board of peace. And we're going to get into that
01:58in a second, because the other big protagonist is the Ukrainian president. Of course,
02:03Vladimir Zelensky was really not clear until the last moment whether or not the speech was going to
02:08happen. But in the end, he did show up. And now we go to Sasha Vakulina, who followed that speech
02:13on the floor of the World Economic Forum. After days of speculations about whether or not
02:19Ukraine's president would be coming to the World Economic Forum, Volodymyr Zelensky arrived to Davos
02:24on Thursday for his scheduled meeting with Donald Trump, which took place right before Zelensky went
02:30on stage and delivered harsh criticism of Europe, calling the continent not being able to defend itself,
02:39saying that Europe looks lost and remains trapped in endless repetition of failing to defend itself
02:45or decisively support Ukraine. He also said that one year ago at the same speech here at the World Economic
02:52Forum, he already said that Europe needs to know how to defend itself. And he said now in 2026,
02:58one year later, things have not changed. This is something that Europe would be rather used to
03:05hearing from the US administration, from Washington, for Ukraine's president to say that that was the
03:11harshest criticism that he's delivered towards Europe.
03:15Instead of becoming a truly global power, Europe remains a beautiful but fragmented kaleidoscope of small
03:23and middle powers. Instead of taking the lead in defending freedom worldwide, especially when America's focus shifts elsewhere,
03:34Europe looks lost trying to convince the US president to change. But he will not change. Things move faster than Europe.
03:45And how can Europe keep up? Dear friends, we should not degrade ourselves to secondary roles, not when we have a chance to be a great power together.
03:57We should not accept that Europe is just a salad of small and middle powers seasoned with enemies of Europe. When united, we are truly invincible.
04:09He also spoke about Maduro and as well as Nicolas Maduro and said why Maduro is in prison in New York and Vladimir Putin is not saying that Vladimir Putin is still fighting for his frozen assets in Europe.
04:26It's Putin who is trying to decide how the frozen Russian assets should be used. Not those who have the power to punish him for this war.
04:36Thankfully, the EU decided to freeze Russian assets indefinitely and I'm grateful for that. Thanks Ursula, thanks Antonio and all the leaders who helped.
04:47But when the time came to use those assets to defend against Russian aggression, the decision was blocked.
04:56Ukraine's president further criticized Europe for not being able to support Iranian people regarding the brutal crackdown on protesters that killed thousands.
05:07He also compared this inaction from Europe to what happened in Belarus in 2020 and 2021 with those mass protests against Alexander Lukashenko.
05:18And he said, look at the results and the consequences of the fact that Europe did not do enough back then.
05:25There was so much talk about protests in Iran, but they drowned in blood. The world has not helped enough the Iranian people and its room. It has stood aside.
05:41If the regime survives, it sends a clear signal to every bully. Kill enough people and you stay in power.
05:50He questioned why Trump can seize shadow fleet tankers and oil while Europe cannot do that with Russian shadow fleet.
05:59So there was lots of criticism of Europe coming this time unexpectedly from Ukraine's president.
06:07Interesting. I mean, how do you think that's gone down with the Europeans who've just given 90 billion euros for two years?
06:14For two years for Ukraine. Look, I think sometimes this is not the first time President Zelensky gives a rough, difficult speech.
06:22He's done it before. But I got to be honest, I was on the phone with a contact of mine in Brussels.
06:28Because remember, Jane, there is a European summit that is happening tonight in Brussels. Absolutely.
06:33And this diplomat told me, you know, it was too much. The Europeans have signed this 90 billion euro package.
06:40But also remember, this is happening in a week in which Denmark was in a real crisis over Greenland.
06:46This is an enormous national security moment for the country. A lot of pressure coming from the United States.
06:52You had an interview with one of the ministers today, yes? Yes. And sometimes you have to read the room.
06:56And that's exactly, you know, the speech is difficult to tell.
06:58And going back to Greenland, as you say, yes, I spoke with the Spanish foreign minister, Jose Manuel Alvarez.
07:03And he said, look, I know there's some kind of deal that's been done between the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte and Donald Trump.
07:10But the reality is we don't know the details. And that's a big question mark and a big problem for the Europeans. Let's take a look.
07:16The pressure on Denmark and on Greenland must stop. Spain has been very clear since the very beginning.
07:22The future of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and to the Danish people.
07:28And the people of Greenland have said very clearly they want to remain as a part of Denmark.
07:33They want to remain as a part of an EU member state.
07:36Well, that was the Spanish foreign minister. There was another important speech today.
07:40And that was from the German chancellor. Let's take a look and see what they had to say.
07:44It is good news that we are making steps into that right direction.
07:50I welcome President Trump's remarks from last night. This is the right way to go.
07:58This is the right way because any threat to acquire European territory by force would be unacceptable.
08:06We support talks between Denmark, Greenland, United States on the basis of these principles.
08:12I have discussed this with President Trump, Prime Minister Fredrickson, Secretary General Mark Rutte and others in these days.
08:20The aim of these talks is to agree for closer cooperation amongst allies in the High North and beyond.
08:28We share the conviction that as European NATO allies we must do more to secure the High North as NATO.
08:42This is a common transatlantic interest. We will protect Denmark, Greenland, the North from the threat posed by Russia.
08:54We will uphold the principles on which the transatlantic partnership is founded, namely sovereignty and territorial integrity.
09:06And that was the German chancellor, of course, speaking at the World Economic Forum.
09:10Look, for me, this was a very mild speech. He played it very safe, to be completely honest.
09:14I cannot remember the word he said because at this point when we talk about this is a moment of rupture between the United States and Europe.
09:20The best thing you could say is we're so thankful he did not invade Greenland. Frankly, I'm worried.
09:25Well, Trump had a busy morning this morning because he launched his Board of Peace initiative attended by several world leaders.
09:33Can you tell us a little bit more of what it's actually about?
09:35Well, that's a big question. I don't think at this point anyone knows.
09:38So some would say this is an initiative, of course, that started to govern Gaza.
09:43Obviously, there's been a terrible war now for two years. The idea was that this was going to rebuild Gaza.
09:49But now it's gotten bigger. And Trump believes it can be a platform that can sustain world peace.
09:55The catch is that you've got to pay at some point to be a member. It's not clear who's going to pay.
09:59And then, of course, there's a question of is this a members club replacing the United Nations, which is problematic.
10:05Well, I don't think he's going to receive the Nobel Prize for that. But he is definitely on track to try and make Davos great again.
10:11Well, he certainly was that Nobel Peace Prize for peace. And whether he made Davos great again or not, I mean, we'll leave it up to you.
10:18And that was day three. And now the big question. What was your highlight?
10:22Oh, my goodness. That's a tough question. I would say the atmosphere is really electric.
10:26I mean, from the moment that you touched down at Zurich Airport, you find yourself in these really engaging and interesting conversations with strangers from that moment.
10:36Then you get here to the town. You see the buzz. Obviously, you've got the conference itself down at the Congress Center and those conversations and those interesting meetings that you have there.
10:46You know, I would agree with you. I think it's very easy to hate on Davos and say it's no longer relevant. The Davos man always gets it wrong.
10:52But there is sight, guys, and it knows how to create a moment. And this week, of course, the entire world, the eyes of the world were really here from President Trump to the Europeans.
11:01Musk was here. Elon Musk earlier today.
11:03Obviously, big delegation, as you say, from Saudi, Qatar, Asia. This is really a place that brings together the world and creates a conversation.
11:12Well, obviously, that is the theme. And the spirit of dialogue was the theme for this year's Davos.
11:16And I think everyone tried to keep within that sort of consensus in their conversations.
11:21And back to business. And of course, that is it for us. But Jane, I know that the World Economic Forum, obviously, we were reporting all day, but you were also busy at the Euronews News Hub.
11:31So I'm going to give you the floor.
11:35Well, as Maria said, this was the final day here at the Euronews Hub. And earlier, I hosted a session on CDP's Corporate Health Check 2026.
11:48And the big question was not whether sustainability matters, but how it translates into resilience, competitiveness and profitability.
11:57I look at this and I think there are actually three key things that come away for me. The first is that leadership is trending up.
12:05The second point is that geography matters. And what we've revealed is that the country that is highest ranked in terms of number of leaders is Japan.
12:15So they're at 22%. It's closely followed by the EU, hurrah, and the UK, where I call home.
12:22Interestingly, the US is lagging behind. And the third point, so we've got leadership is trending up.
12:28Second is geography matters. And the third is adaptation is on the corporate agenda.
12:34And how do we know this? So CDP has unearthed last year that companies are identifying risks very specifically.
12:43They're not just talking about the risks. They're putting a number value, a dollar value, against each of those risks.
12:49And cumulatively, that's $1.5 trillion worth of risks that is quantified as financial risks coming specifically from physical risks.
13:00And you might say, oh, well, you know, that's a pretty big number, but what's anyone going to do about it?
13:06Unfortunately, the corporates aren't doing anything about it yet.
13:10So here's one of those gaps that you referred to.
13:13So only $84.5 billion has been allocated by those same corporates who have identified the $1.5 trillion
13:22in actually putting capital to work in order to mitigate that.
13:27I think that there's some work to be done, and perhaps the capital markets can think about how to mitigate some of that risk
13:34that's already so well-defined and financially bounded.
13:37This has been our home for the past week, and thank you for joining us.
13:41We've welcomed 50 high-level speakers.
13:44We've had 11 heads of state and government leaders come through our doors.
13:48In total, we've actually had 600 people come here.
13:51We've had 12 events once again, cementing us as the leading European news broadcaster.
13:58It's been fantastic to be here.
14:00We've also seen many celebrities who've given us that little bit of famous endorsement here in Davos.
14:06David Beckham, Katy Perry came here with Trudeau.
14:09We had Sacha Baron Cohen and Matt Damon all the way from Hollywood.
14:14As I say, it's been electric, but the one name that has dominated has definitely got to be President Donald Trump.
14:21He commanded the stage and the streets, in fact, as they were all closed down when his motorcade arrived.
14:27From us, though, this year's Davos has been fantastic.
14:31It's been a success, as always.
14:32And, of course, those conversations, imperative, and they need to continue.
14:36For us, for now, at Euronews here in Davos, it's goodnight.
14:40Euronews here in Davos.
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