MUNICH -- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for Kyiv, Europe, and the United States to work together on a plan to end the full-scale invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin launched against his country three years ago this month.
"I will meet with Russians -- with only one Russian guy, with Putin -- only after we will have a common plan with [U.S. President Donald] Trump [and] Europe," Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference on February 14.
After a meeting later in the day with U.S. Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy said that Kyiv very much wants to work toward ending the Russian war on Ukraine, but stressed that "we need real security guarantees."
Vance said that Trump has outlined the fundamental U.S. goal: "We want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop."
"But we want to achieve a durable lasting peace, not the kind of peace that will have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple of years down the road," he said.
The conference, which started amid intense speculation about whether it could lead to a diplomatic breakthrough that can chart a course to ending the biggest war in Europe since 1945.
There was no sign of a Russian presence and Zelenskyy played down the chance of major progress, saying that no peace talks were taking place in Munich and rejecting speculation that he would meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia next week.
Trump had said on February 13 that U.S. and Russian officials would meet in Munich on February 14 and that Ukraine was also invited.
Trump spoke to Zelenskyy and Putin separately by phone on February 12 and said he and Putin had agreed their two countries would immediately start talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
That fueled concerns in Kyiv and Europe that they could be sidelined and a peace plan forged by Washington on Moscow could be thrust upon Ukraine.
In Munich, Zelenskyy said he and the Ukrainian people would "never accept anything that is agreed without Ukraine."
Talking About Peace Talks
His meeting with Vance ended without announcement of a deal that would open up U.S. access to critical minerals in Ukraine, something that Trump has indicated is important if Kyiv is to continue receiving American weapons and and financial support.
The three-day meeting represented a first chance for many European leaders to meet with senior officials from the new Trump administration, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said in a social media post that he met with Kellogg and discussed "the coordination of joint efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace."
Hegseth already caused a stir at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels this week, declaring that under a peace deal, Ukraine could not expect to regain territory occupied by Russia or to join NATO.
Amid an anguished response from Europe, some commentators described the proposals as setting the scene for a second Munich Agreement -- a reference to the 1938 deal under which Britain and France caved to Nazi Germany’s demands for swathes of Czechoslovakia.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn told RFE/RL that this was not an appropriate comparison. “That’s an abuse of history and not true,” he said. “The reason we’re here is to express our commitment to peace in Ukraine, if that’s possible.”
Cornyn, a Republican, said the first day of talks were productive, and stressed strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the U.S. Senate.
“We know who the aggressor is. It’s Vladimir Putin. We need to figure some way to increase the costs of violating any peace agreement so that he doesn’t just turn around and do it again.”
'Appeasement' Warning
Reflecting European Union concerns, EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke this week of “appeasement.” French President Emmanuel Macron warned against “capitulation” to Russia.
Trump's call to Putin "doesn't make Ukraine [or] European positions stronger," Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsakhna told RFE/RL in an interview with RFE/RL on the sidelines of the conference.
"[What] we need to do right now, before any kind of negotiations or talks with Putin, is actually to change his goal. And his goal has not changed," Tsakhna said. "He's not about gaining some more territories in Ukraine. He's about changing the European security architecture. He's about destroying totally Ukraine as a country."
He said that "there cannot be a long-lasting and just peace without European participation," and that "Europe must stand up and also put a plan on the table what kind of security guarantees we can give together with the U.S. to Ukraine."
Hegseth declared at a news conference in Brussels that U.S. proposals were “not a betrayal.” But he also gave a strong message that Europe needed to up the ante on defense spending rather than continuing to rely on American might.
Vance echoed that theme at a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and in a speech to the conference on February 14.
"We think it's an important part of being in a shared alliance together that the Europeans step up while America focuses on areas of the world that are in great danger," Vance said in his address.
Vance: Freedom Of Speech Under Threat
Vance also said he believes developments inside Europe, including what he suggested were curbs on freedom of speech, are a bigger danger to the continent than Russia is.
"The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China, it's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within. The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values," he said, adding, "In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat."
“In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town," Vance said. "And under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square.”
Vance also criticized European countries' approach to illegal migration, saying that voters didn't voice support for opening “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants." He spoke of an attack in Munich on February 13 in which the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan who arrived as an asylum-seeker in 2016.
The violence left more than 30 people injured and appears to have had an Islamic extremist motive.
As the conference got under way, the Kremlin reacted to Vance’s remark, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, that in addition to economic tools of leverage, "there are of course military tools of leverage" the United States could use to encourage Russia to reach an agreement to end the war.
"This was a new element about the [U.S.] position. We have not heard such formulations before, they have not been voiced before," Peskov told reporters. "So, of course, during the very contacts that we have been talking about, of course, we hope to receive some additional clarification."
Speaking on a panel at the conference, which ends on the first anniversary of Aleksei Navalny's death in prison, the Russian opposituon leader's widow said there is "no point trying to negotiate" with Putin.
"Even if you decided to negotiate with Putin, just remember he will lie," Navalnaya said. "He will betray. He will change the rules at the last moment and force you to play his game."
