Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, throughout the Munich Safety Convention in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to as for the creation of a European military to spice up the continent’s defenses as he warned that Russia was “not getting ready for dialogue” to advance doable credible peace talks.
Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine had intelligence that Russia plans to ship troops to its ally Belarus this summer time beneath the pretense of coaching workouts, however warned that it posed a direct menace to bordering NATO nations.
“We should construct the armed forces of Europe, in order that Europe’s future relies upon solely on Europeans,” Zelenskyy informed the Munich Safety Convention in Germany.
“Putin clearly sees Belarus as simply one other Russian province now,” he added.
The Ukrainian president met with U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Friday to debate rising hopes for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal, however famous that his nation needed “safety ensures” earlier than any talks with Russia start.
“This isn’t a rustic that desires peace,” Zelenskyy mentioned of Russia. “It isn’t getting ready for dialogue.”
Zelenskyy on Friday informed NBC Information that it could be “very, very, very troublesome” for Ukraine to outlive with out U.S. navy assist, each now and within the occasion of a doable future Russian invasion.
He additionally informed the convention earlier within the day that Ukraine would want to double the scale of its military if it was unable to affix NATO.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly mentioned that U.S. troops wouldn’t be stationed in Ukraine to behave as a deterrent to additional Russian aggression. He has instructed, as a substitute, that Washington and Kyiv would strike an financial pact, specializing in the latter’s huge provide of crucial minerals, to supply the embattled nation with a post-war safety protect.
US Vice President JD Vance (R), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd R) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L) meet on the sidelines of the 61st Munich Safety Convention (MSC) in Munich, southern Germany on February 14, 2025.
Tobias Schwarz | Afp | Getty Photographs
International protection and safety officers are gathered in Munich, Germany for the annual three-day convention, the place the way forward for Ukraine, peace talks with Russia and reshaping Europe’s safety and protection structure are on the forefront of discussions.
Prospects for a peace deal returned to the fore this week after President Trump held separate cellphone calls with each Russian President Vladimir Putin and, later, Zelenskyy. After initially indicating {that a} bilateral deal may very well be struck between Washington and Moscow, Trump later mentioned that Ukraine’s Zelenskyy can be concerned, together with “a number of different folks.”
U.S. officers have, nonetheless, poured chilly water on a number of of Zelenskyy’s arduous traces for an settlement, with Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday saying that each NATO membership and the reinstatement of Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders had been unrealistic outcomes.
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