Zelensky: Meeting with Putin only after a joint plan with President Trump is discussed

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would agree to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally only after a joint plan with United States President Donald Trump is discussed.

President Zelensky believes American counterpart Trump has a key role to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He added that the American president gave him his cell phone number before opening the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

President Trump changed his previous American support policy for Ukraine this week, following a call with Russian President Putin.

President Zelensky met with US Vice President JD Vance on Friday. Many analysts, especially in Europe, hope that Mr. Vance will shed a little more light on Mr. Trump's ideas for achieving the negotiated resolution of the war in Ukraine.

In his speech during Munich's conference, Vice President Vance gave lectures to European officials on free speech and illegal migration to the continent. He warned European officials that they risk losing public support if they do not change the course quickly.

“If you are afraid of your voters, America has no way of saving you”, Vice President Vance said.

Mr. Vance's speech and the mention of the 3-year war in Ukraine took place at a time of deep concern and uncertainty over the foreign policy of the Trump administration.

Washington now has a new leader. Under Donald Trump's leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to say it publicly”, Vice President Vance said while the public applauded.

The vice president also warned European officials against illegal migration, saying the electorate did not vote to open “ports to flood millions of untested immigrants”. He referred to an attack Thursday in Munich, where the suspect was reportedly a 24-year-old Afghan who arrived in Germany as asylum seekers in 2016.

During the incident over 30 people were injured and it appears to have been motivated by Islamic extremism.

NATO Protection Expenses

On Friday, Vice President Vance held separate meetings with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. During the meetings, he reiterated the new US administration's call for NATO members to spend more on defence. Currently, 23 of the 32 NATO member states have met the goal of the Western military alliance to spend 2% of Bruto's domestic production for defence.

“We want to make sure that NATO is actually built for the future. This is achieved when we make sure NATO shares the burden a little more with Europe, so that the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia”, Vice President Vance said during the meeting with Mr. Rutte.

Secretary - General NATO said he agreed that Europe should increase defence spending. “In this sense we must grow and spend much more”, he said.

Ukraine's bid to join NATO

President Trump's statements have left Europeans in a dilemma, wondering how or whether they can preserve the post-World War II security that NATO offered them. Another issue is whether they can fill the billion-dollar void of security aid the administration of former President Biden gave Ukraine since the beginning of Russian aggression in February 2022.

President Trump has been very skeptical of this assistance and is expected to cut or limit it as negotiations begin in the coming days.

Both President Trump and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth this week waned Ukraine's hopes of becoming part of NATO. On this issue, almost a year ago the north-Atlantic alliance said it was an irreversible “process, as was the return of its Russia-invased territory, which currently controls about 20%, including Crime.

“I don't see any way that a country like Russia can allow ... they join NATO”, President Trump said on Thursday. I don't see this can happen”

President Zelensky, in his speech during the conference, said the United States, including the administration of President Biden, never saw Ukraine as a potential member of NATO.

Possible Sanctions Against Russia

US Vice President JDVance, in an interview with the newspaper owski Street Journal, said the United States would strike Moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if Russian President Putin failed to reconcile for a peace agreement with Ukraine guaranteeing Kiev's long-term independence.

The warning that military attacks “are possible” is deemed a striking language by a Trump administration official who has repeatedly stressed the desire to end the war.

Mr. Vance's team later dismissed the newspaper's claim.

Zelensky won't accept agreements made without Ukraine

The United States guarantees may have softened some of the fears of President Zelensky. However, they will not replace the lost military, or economic, support that President Joe Biden's administration had given.

Ukrainian leader acknowledged on Thursday that it was not the most pleasant “” President Trump first spoke with President Putin. However, he said the main issue was “not allowed everything to go according to Putin's” plan.

“We cannot accept, as an independent state, no agreement (made) without us”, President Zelensky said as he visited a nuclear power plant in western Ukraine.

European turning point

The path President Trump is following has shaken Europe, as did his contemptuous remarks to France and Germany during his first term.

French Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Haddad described Europe as a turning point. He added that Europe must give up its support to the United States for its security. He warned that granting Russia victory in Ukraine could also have consequences in Asia.

I don't think we're getting enough of the scale on which the world is changing. Both opponents and our allies are busy with this issue”, Minister Haddad said of the network France Infoke on Thursday. / VOA