Help me rebuild Ukraine, Zelensky tells Davos

President Zelensky has told the World Economic Forum that it has the opportunity to fund the biggest reconstruction effort since the Second World War, adding that delays in financing and arms deliveries had cost “tens of thousands of lives”.

Appearing by video link at Davos today Zelensky, 44, said that one lesson from the first three months of the war had been that “support to the country under attack is more valuable the sooner it is provided”.

 “If we received [money, weapons and more political support] in February, the result would be tens of thousands of lives saved,” he said. “This is why Ukraine needs all the weapons we ask for. There is a cost of $5 billion a month.” Kyiv estimates that this sum is needed to cover government services and keep its economy functioning.

Zelensky called for an immediate oil embargo on Russia, punitive measures against all its banks and the shunning of its technology sector, adding that all foreign companies should leave Russia. “There should not be any trade with Russia,” he said. “I believe there are still no such sanctions against Russia, and there should be.”

Although the United States, Britain and Canada have moved to ban Russian oil and gas, the European Union has been divided over such measures. States such as Germany and Hungary depend heavily on Russian supply.

The 2,500 delegates and 50 world leaders at Davos include Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of Nato, and John Kerry, the US climate envoy.

 “This is a moment when brute force may rule the world,” Zelensky said. “If so, there will be no reason for meetings in Davos.”

The Ukrainian economy had sustained damage costing more than half a trillion dollars to its industries and infrastructure as a result of the Russian invasion, Zelensky said. Ukraine is offering countries and companies that fund its reconstruction “patronage” over geographical areas and industries.

 “We are offering the world the chance to set a precedent to rebuild after the war and show that the war is not working,” he said. “We need to build cities and industries. Thanks to this [patronage] model, the postwar rebuilding could be fast and efficient and the largest in Europe since the Second World War.”

Switzerland will host a conference in Lugano in July to help raise funds for the reconstruction, attracting international donors.

President Putin was among the speakers when the Davos forum was held remotely last year, but Russian officials have now been banned for the first time since the Cold War.

Separately, at a televised meeting in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Putin told President Lukashenko of Belarus that the Russian economy was doing well despite western sanctions.

Lukashenko said that the sanctions had given both countries the impetus to focus on self-development and western elites were deluded about the causes of their economic woes.

 “Thanks are really due to them as they have given us such a push to our own development,” Lukashenko told Putin, who smiled and nodded. “What is happening over there is that they really underestimated it by reading their own media. They got inflation, yet the truth is ‘Putin is to blame’, ‘Putin is to blame for everything’. ”

Putin pursed his lips and replied, “We will have a serious talk to them”, prompting Lukashenko to chuckle.

Davos has been decked out in Ukrainian colours and a host of speakers and activists from the country are appealing the international community for assistance. Zelensky was given the keynote speaking slot to open the four-day conference.

Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, and his brother Wladimir, the former heavyweight boxing champing, called on delegates to make Russia an international pariah state by demanding that the Swiss-based International Olympic Committee ban the country from all Olympic events.

“The world must wake up. We are screaming for help and the help is never enough as long as this war is ongoing,” Vitali Klitschko told the summit. “It took two months for the free world to understand the weapons that need to be delivered.”

Ukraine is on the brink of a food crisis as its farmers struggle to sow, store and sell grains that are vital to the global food markets for wheat, maize and sunflower oil. Russian forces have destroyed ports such as Odesa to prevent exports, and have also been accused of burning crops and smuggling grain for sale on the black market.

Zelensky said he was in talks with allies including the US, UK and EU to establish a “food corridor” to transport crops out of the country and sell them from other European ports. “We need to agree on a safe corridor. Russia will not be able to stand against the leading countries of the world. We are talking to the Baltics about using their seaports,” he said.

Appealing directly to the Davos delegates, Zelensky said: “Ukraine is short on time. I’m sure that no one has any idea how much time Europe or the world has. I wish you would all wake up in the morning and ask, ‘what have I done for Ukraine today?’. ”