Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described Russian President Vladimir Putin as a 'slave of war' during his speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. He said Putin may see himself as a Russian emperor but is bound by war. Zelensky stated that every power plant in Ukraine has suffered major damage from Russian attacks and warned that granting territorial concessions to Moscow would only fuel further aggression.

Drawing a parallel to the 1938 Munich Agreement, Zelensky cautioned that appeasing Putin would not bring peace, likening the situation to European powers’ concessions to Hitler before World War II. He made these remarks just days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, accusing Russia of killing thousands, destroying eastern Ukraine, and forcing millions to flee.

Zelensky reiterated Kyiv’s call for Western nations to expedite air defense supplies to Ukraine, emphasizing that his government is doing everything possible to end the war. Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Moscow of deliberately targeting Ukraine’s power grid to inflict suffering during the harsh winter.