At Davos, Ukraine’s first lady urges support for her nation

DAVOS, Switzerland — Ukraine’s first lady on Tuesday pressed world leaders and corporate executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual gathering to do more to help her country at a time when Russia’s invasion is leaving children dying and the world struggling with food insecurity. As the anniversary of the war nears, Olena Zelenska said parents in Ukraine are in tears watching doctors trying to save their children, farmers are afraid to return to their fields filled with mines and “we cannot allow a new Chernobyl to happen,” referring to the 1986 nuclear disaster as Russian missiles have pounded Ukrainian energy infrastructure for months. The weeklong talkfest of big ideas and backroom deal-making prioritizes global problems such as hunger, climate change and the slowing economy, but it’s never clear how much concrete action emerges to help reach the forum’s stated ambition of “improving the state of the world.” “We are all internally convinced that there is no such global problem that humanity cannot solve,” Zelenska said. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, whose country borders Russia and is looking to join NATO, said the West should send Russian President Vladimir Putin the message that “we will support as long as needed — five years, 10 years, 15 years, whatever it takes — we will support Ukraine, and this will not stop.” ___ AP journalists Masha Macpherson and David Keyton in Davos contributed.