Ukraine Is Top of the Agenda in Davos. But Some Fear Support From Businesses Has Peaked
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Hello from the Magic Mountain of Davos, where the World Economic Forum is well underway. We’ll be bringing you the latest from this week’s gathering, including insights on the most-talked about issues, quote-worthy things said, and more. You can find our first installment here. You can also pick up a copy of TIME’s Davos special issue in the Congress Centre or read our stories here.
The last time the WEF convened in May, it was three months into the Russian invasion of Ukraine—a topic that, unsurprisingly, dominated the gathering. This year, as the war approaches its first anniversary, Ukraine remains very much top of mind. World leaders have seized on every opportunity to reiterate their support for Ukraine. “We are in it for as long as it takes,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska on Tuesday, a refrain that has since been echoed by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, and Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström. Several members of the U.S. congressional delegation have been spotted wearing U.S. and Ukraine flag pins on their lapels.
Ukraine’s visibility extends beyond the forum’s main Congress Centre. On the promenade, Davos’s main thoroughfare, Ukraine House broadcasts images from the streets of war-torn Kherson. Russia House, previously a fixture on the promenade, is nowhere to be seen. Neither are any Russian officials.
Though Ukraine remains central to the outward facing narrative at Davos and in conversations among the geopolitically-inclined, some Davos attendees told TIME that the same cannot be said for the forum’s more corporate-minded settings. “When you get into meetings with corporate actors, it has not been my experience that Ukraine is the primary concern of the agenda,” Amnesty International secretary general Agnes Callamard told TIME. “There is a sense on the part of the corporate sector that they’ve done what needed to be done for Ukraine.”
Many, though not all, companies have suspended their operations in Russia. Others, such as Microsoft and Google, are providing humanitarian aid to the country. But for the war to end sooner rather than later, Ukrainian delegates told TIME, they need more support from the private sector—and not just after the war ends. “We really need the end and the victory to be this year,” says Ukrainian lawmaker Alona Shkrum, noting that neither Ukraine nor its partners can afford for this war to go on indefinitely. “We can win. We just need more weapons and more air defense.”