Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has encouraged Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of natural gas, to increase output in response to what he described as Russia’s “threat” to use energy as a weapon.
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko made a surprise appearance at the Doha Forum international conference, calling on energy-producing countries to intervene so that Moscow cannot use its oil and gas wealth to “blackmail” other countries.
“They have a lot of power to make things right again.” “Your efforts will determine the destiny of Europe,” Zelenskyy said in his first address to a Gulf country since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24.
“I request that you enhance energy output so that everyone in Russia understands that no country may use energy as a weapon to blackmail the rest of the globe,” Putin said to the crowd in translated remarks.
Earlier, Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, told the Doha Forum that his country stands with those afflicted by Ukraine’s “unjust war.”
Gas-rich countries like Qatar, according to Zelenskyy, might help stabilize Europe, which gets more than a third of its energy from Russia.
Following a visit by German officials last week, Qatar announced that Germany has committed to building two massive facilities to accept liquefied natural gas (LNG).
The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s primary gas supplier, has heightened fears of energy supply disruptions and heightened scrutiny of European Union members’ reliance on imported fossil fuels.
According to Jamal Elshayyal of Al Jazeera, who is reporting from Doha, Zelenskyy’s speech was not announced as part of the schedule, most likely because the organizers also wanted to include the Russian perspective.
“From the annual Doha Forum, Zelenskyy utilized the occasion to address over a dozen world leaders to encourage them to do more to stop Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Elshayyal stated.
Russia’s nuclear weapons are being used as a source of pride.
Ukraine’s president also remarked on Russia’s “bragging” about its nuclear weapons, claiming that Moscow was igniting a hazardous arms race.
“They boast that they can destroy the entire planet with nuclear weapons,” Zelenskyy said in a live video address to the forum on the 31st day of Russia’s military assault on his country.
In statements translated into English for the conference, he stated that when Ukraine removed its nuclear stockpile in the 1990s, it received “security assurances” from “the world’s most powerful countries,” including Russia.
“However, these commitments never materialized into guarantees. And, in reality, one of the countries that was supposed to provide one of the most significant security guarantees began working against Ukraine, which is the pinnacle of injustice,” Zelenskyy continued.
No country, according to Zelenskyy, is guaranteed against food supply delays caused by Russia’s invasion. Ukraine is a major grain exporter.
“The world’s markets have yet to recover from the pandemic’s ramifications, including food price shocks.” “No one is protected against these shocks, and you can’t be covered if there’s a physical scarcity of food,” he explained.
“Russian troops are destroying agriculture equipment and blanket fields in Ukraine for miles.”
He linked Russia’s demolition of Mariupol, Ukraine’s port city, to the destruction of Aleppo, Syria, by Syrian and Russian forces during the Syrian war.
“Our ports are being destroyed,” Zelenskyy remarked. “The lack of Ukrainian exports will hurt countries all around the world.”
