As tensions mount in Kyiv and among its Western allies over the outcome of the Ukraine conflict, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to meet with US vice chairman JD Vance in Germany on Friday with a caution against accepting Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
The Munich safety meeting comes nearly three centuries after Russia launched its full-scale invasion, just weeks after US President Donald Trump and Putin held boundary discussions that have shaken Ukraine and America’s Nato supporters.
Trump stated that he and Putin had agreed to begin pleasant visits to Ukraine quickly and that they had agreed to do so. Additionally, the new US management stated that Nato participation for Kyiv was “impractical” and that Ukraine would have to offer up country to Russia.
Vance addressed the crowd in Munich on Friday in an effort to calm Western fears ahead of his discourse in Munich. He said,” the leader is never going in this with glasses on,” in remarks to the Wall Street Journal.
” He’s going to say,’ Everything is on the table, let’s create a package,'” Vance added, stressing that there are financial and even “military instruments of liquidity”.
Vance said it was too early to determine what protection guarantees the United States and another American allies might sell Kyiv or how much of the country’s territory would be in Russian hands.
” There are any amount of formulations, of combinations, but we do worry about Ukraine having royal independence”, he said.
Zelenskyy warned international leaders on Thursday, “against trusting Putin’s says of readiness to end the war,” and that he wanted the United States to acknowledge a “plan to prevent Putin” before any agreements.
Western problem
Kaja Kallas, the head of EU foreign affairs, warned on Thursday that “any offer behind our backs may never work” and that “appeasement also often fails.”
The lion’s share of the costs associated with post-war protection are feared by Kyiv’s German supporters as a result of Trump’s potential for power Ukraine into a bad peace offer that will keep them with an enthralled Putin on their doorstep.
Many of the Western leaders, officials, and generals in Munich express grave concerns about the growing division between the transatlantic allies and even the post-World War II global order itself.
In line with Trump’s” America First” approach, Western allies were unflinchingly informed this week that the potential task of ensuring Ukraine would fall to them only.
Christoph Heusgen, the conference’s mind, said in a statement to German television on Friday that” I believe the British vice president will announce today that a significant portion of the American army may be withdrawn from Europe.”
Timothy Garton Ash, a teacher of German studies at Oxford, wrote that America’s “message to Europe was very striking on Ukraine- it’s your concern. We may assist in breaking a package with Russia, but that decision is up to you.
That gives Putin the opportunity to check that defense in Ukraine, which would mean that a peace deal between Trump and Ukraine and Europe would be almost safe.
‘ Only peace’
Zelenskyy, despite facing the prospect of having Ukraine’s essential needs ignored after decades of gruelling battle, has pushed back with mild language.
He claimed it was” not very pleasant” that Trump had called Putin before speaking to him, and that he had once more argued that he wanted to work out a “plan to stop Putin” with the US before any discussions take place.
Zelenskyy was anticipated to intensify his efforts to achieve a” just peace” through additional assistance from Europe.
After having to turn around due to a mechanical problem, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio finally arrived in Europe on Friday.
Trump stated on Thursday that “high-level people” from Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington would meet in Munich on Friday, but the Ukrainian presidency stated that there is “nothing on the table at the moment” and that “high-level people” from Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington will meet there.
Heusgen did not rule out possible meetings outside the security conference, as he claimed in a statement to German radio that no senior Russian government officials had been approved.
A car-ramming attack that left 30 people injured, and an Afghan asylum seeker who had been detained at the scene, caused heightened security at the annual meeting in the Bavarian state capital.
