Ukraine’s president meets leaders at Munich Safety Convention amid a push to finish Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has referred to as for the USA and Europe to band collectively to assist Ukraine in its conflict in opposition to Russia.
Talking on Friday on the Munich Safety Convention, Zelenskyy additionally stated the US, together with former President Joe Biden’s administration, by no means noticed Ukraine as a NATO member.
Ukraine will want “safety ensures” earlier than any talks with Russia, he stated, as US President Donald Trump presses each international locations to discover a fast finish to the three-year conflict.
Shortly earlier than sitting down with US Vice President JD Vance, Zelenskyy stated he would solely agree to satisfy in particular person with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a typical plan is negotiated with US President Donald Trump.
The roughly 40-minute assembly between Vance and Zelenskyy produced no main bulletins detailing the way in which out of the deadliest conflict in Europe since World Struggle II.
“We would like peace very a lot,” Zelenskyy stated. “However we want actual safety ensures.”
Vance, for his half, stated the Trump administration is dedicated to discovering an enduring peace between Ukraine and Russia.
Earlier this week, Trump upended years of steadfast US assist for Ukraine with a telephone name with Putin, after which Trump stated the 2 leaders would possible meet quickly to barter a peace deal.
In Munich on Friday, some world leaders – together with conservative celebration chief Friedrich Merz, who’s seen because the possible subsequent chancellor of Germany – sided with the Trump administration.
“There was additionally settlement that the trail to an enduring peace can solely succeed within the closest coordination between America and Europe,” Merz stated on the sideline of the convention.
However there have been extra widespread considerations amongst different leaders on the summit.
“There’s concern that there could also be a deal that Washington desires to do with Putin successfully excluding not simply the Europeans however the Ukrainians too,” Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays stated from Munich.
However there was a stern warning from Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny, who died in a Russian penal colony: ”Even for those who determined to barter with Putin, simply keep in mind he’ll lie.”
German International Minister Annalena Baerbock additionally expressed considerations in regards to the Trump administration’s proposal to reinstate Russia within the Group of Seven (G7) main economies.
“As G7 companions, now we have repeatedly made it clear over the past three years following this brutal Russian full-scale invasion: There might be no regular cooperation with Russia,” Baerbock stated.
Simply hours earlier than Vance and Zelenskyy met, a Russian drone armed with a warhead struck the protecting shell of the Chornobyl Nuclear Energy Plant within the Kyiv area, website of the world’s worst nuclear accident in 1986.
Zelenskyy and the UN atomic company confirmed that radiation ranges remained unchanged.
Zelenskyy later advised reporters in Munich that the assault was a “very clear greeting from Putin and the Russian Federation to the safety convention”.
