U.S. and Western diplomats believe that the only way to protect global democracy is to keep pumping weapons into Ukraine rather than negotiating.

That was the message from U.S. and Western diplomats, officials and military leaders at the Halifax Forum on International Security, a major annual national security conference that brings together democracy advocates from around the world, Politico reported.

Support for this fight has contradicted growing narratives about the need for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.

The outcome of the war in Ukraine will help determine the course of global security in this young century, and we in North America have no opportunity to sit back, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

Participants discussed when and how to begin negotiations in three days of open and closed sessions, but the main message of the conference was to redouble efforts to support Ukraine.

The global consequences of the war in Ukraine were the focus of leaders across Europe. 

This year there was much less focus on Beijing and even less criticism of the United States. The consensus was that Washington and its Western allies were right to prioritize the fight against Ukraine - and should continue to do so - while simultaneously derailing China's machinations in cyberspace and technology. The tone largely mirrored two major NATO meetings in Brussels and Madrid this year, where Ukraine all but drowned out NATO's previous attempts to shift its focus to countering Chinese influence.

Ukrainian leaders clearly saw the forum as an opportunity to strengthen their position. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Head of the Office of the President Andrei Yermak, National Security Advisor Alexei Danilov, and others addressed the elite audience virtually, dismissing calls for a peace treaty soon. Instead, they said that Ukraine was now the front line of the globe.