“We live in a new era in geopolitics and it is going to require all of us to sort of re-examine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State, said in Washington on February 13 before heading to attend the Munich Security Conference. “The old world is gone,” he said.

The old world Mr. Rubio referred to was one in which Western dominance prevailed unchallenged. On February 14, while addressing the conference, he hailed the colonial period as a phase of the West’s “expansion”.

“For five centuries, before the end of the Second World War, the West had been expanding — its missionaries, its pilgrims, its soldiers, its explorers pouring out from its shores to cross oceans, settle new continents, build vast empires extending out across the globe,” he said, with no reference to the crimes and loot of colonialism. “But in 1945, for the first time since the age of Columbus, it was contracting. Europe was in ruins… The great Western empires had entered into terminal decline, accelerated by godless communist revolutions and by anti-colonial uprisings that would transform the world,” added Mr. Rubio, just a few months ahead of the 250th anniversary of the United States’ independence from Britain.

Also Read | Rubio strikes constructive tone but persists in U.S. criticism of European allies

‘Managed decline’

This “managed decline”, in Mr. Rubio’s views, was accelerated by two things. First, “waves of mass migration” to the West from the rest that “threatens the cohesion of our societies and the continuity of our culture and the future of our people”. Second, the West embraced “a dogmatic vision” of free trade, which benefited its adversaries who protected their economies and took control of critical supply chains.

In other words, Mr. Rubio was reiterating what U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance said in Munich last year. The liberal, free trade, pro-immigration policies of Western democracies have accelerated the decline of the West, while America’s adversaries (read China) kept growing, altering the balance in the global order. The change in the balance of power led to the collapse of the old order. Mr. Rubio did not stop there.

The system of international cooperation and institutions “must be reformed” and “rebuilt”, he said. The U.N. could not resolve the war in Gaza, Mr. Rubio said, without mentioning the fact that both the Trump and Biden administrations had repeatedly vetoed resolutions in the U.N. Security Council that were critical of Israel. It was the American leadership “that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce”, said Mr. Rubio, without touching upon Israel’s continued bombings in Gaza or its devastation of the enclave where at least 75,000 people, mostly women and children, were killed in two years. Mr. Rubio’s answer to the apparent inability of the U.N. in resolving global conflicts is American unilateralism.

He credited the Trump administration with bringing Russia and Ukraine to tables and “constraining” (not “obliterating” as Mr. Trump has claimed) the nuclear programme of “radical Shia clerics” of Iran. He also claimed that U.S. Special Forces brought Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s President, “to justice”, referring to the January 3 American attack of the South American country and the abduction of its president. In Mr. Rubio’s worldview, international law is an “abstraction”, unilateralism is effective leadership and sovereignty of weaker powers such as Iran and Venezuela, is non-existent and the rights of the Palestinians exist only on the fringes of the old world.

Also Read | With a second aircraft carrier deployment, Trump raises the stakes with Iran

Civilisational alliance

If Mr. Vance disparaged the European model of governance and defence, Mr. Rubio offered a window for Europe to join hands with America. “We are part of one civilization — Western civilization. We are bound to one another by the deepest bonds that nations could share, forged by centuries of shared history, Christian faith, culture, heritage, language, ancestry, and the sacrifices our forefathers made together for the common civilization to which we have fallen heir,” he said in Munich.

But the new alliance, according to him, should be rooted in common civilisational heritage, rather than geopolitical commonalities. “We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline. We do not seek to separate, but to revitalise an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history,” he added. Mr. Rubio said America is “charting a path for a new century of prosperity”. And he wants Europe with the U.S. in this civilisation revitalisation mission. The crowd in Munich applauded when Mr. Rubio ended his speech.

Published – February 18, 2026 01:39 pm IST

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Saturday (February 14, 2026) denied that India’s strategic autonomy had been impacted because of claims that it was reducing the amount of Russian oil in its energy import mix due to the recent trade agreement with the United States.

“We are very much wedded to strategic autonomy,” said Mr. Jaishankar at an event on India and Germany navigating global uncertainty with German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul at the Munich Security Conference.

 He was responding to a question from the moderator, Financial Times Editor Roula Khalaf,  on whether the recently announced trade framework with the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump had impacted India’s autonomy, forcing it to reduce purchases of Russian oil, which had skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.  

Mr Jaishankar insisted that the government could continue to exert strategic autonomy as it wished.

“We do and we’ve always done,” he said, adding that the notion cut across the political spectrum in India.

The Narendra Modi-led government has come under fire, including from Opposition parties, for acquiescing to Mr. Trump’s demands that New Delhi stop purchasing Russian oil.

Mr. Trump had insisted earlier in February that India had agreed to stop buying oil from Russia as part of a larger trade agreement, and this had meant he would cut tariff cut on Indian exports to the U.S. (including eliminating a 25% ‘penalty’ for trading with Moscow).

Mr. Jaishankar suggested that oil companies in India, Europe and other places looked at market factors to determine what is in their best interest.

“So I would say…, we have a position on that. I don’t  want to rehash the polemics of that,” he said, presumably referring to differences  between India and the European Union (E.U.) on the India’s relationship with Russia, including refined petroleum products coming out of India, based on Russian crude.

“I think that phase has passed today when, you know, coming to Munich, very honestly, I’m kind of coming here in the afterglow of an India EU FTA and a very successful visit of [ German ] Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz [ to India],” the minister said.

India could still make decisions independently and they could sometimes be in disagreement with the views of others , he said.

Comment |India tested, from U.S. sanctions to one-sided trade deal

Agenda-based groupings not new for India: Jaishankar on Carney speech

On the speech of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at Davos in January, where Mr. Carney called for like-minded middle powers to come together to counter Great Power, Mr. Jaishankar suggested that was “new ground” for Canada because it is a treaty ally. India was in any case working in many groups with different countries, he said, citing the Quad and BRICS groupings among others, as examples.

An “ agenda-based coming together of countries on a regular basis” was “very much the hallmark of Indian diplomacy” for about two decades, Mr. Jaishankar added.

On the India Europe Middle East Corridor (IMEC) , Mr Jaishankar said the project was progressing but not at the pace that was initially expected due to the conflict in West Asia.

Responding to a question on how India sees IMEC contributing to Palestinian interests and regional stability, Mr Jaishankar said that the purpose of the project was to address connectivity and not the issue of Palestine, although India had a “longstanding” position on the latter .

“I do think each of those issues [ i.e., connectivity and Palestine] is important, but I would not take one as the solution for the other,” he said.

‘Stay tuned’ on Quad Summit: Jaishankar

On the Quad, Mr. Jaishankar said, the summit, which was meant to be held in 2025 in India was not cancelled, because it had not been specifically scheduled.

“The fact that the Quad did not take place at the summit level itself, I wouldn’t over read it. So do stay tuned,” he said.

There had been speculation that a  declining level of interest in the Quad from the current Trump administration plus diplomatic difficulties between India and the U.S., centred around the 50% U.S. tariff on India and their inability to close a trade deal,  had resulted in the Quad Summit not taking place.

Mr. Jaishankar pointed to the fact that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first [foreign-level] engagement after being appointed was with his Quad counterparts and that there was a second meeting in July 2025.

“I want to assure you that the other parts of the Quad, various mechanisms, all of those are going on,” he added.

Published – February 14, 2026 08:35 pm IST

Supports of Reza Pahlavi attend a demonstration during the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AP

Hope is not a strategy. For most of this year, European leaders have hoped that the Trump Administration has not actually meant its President’s oscillating support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), its Vice-President’s berating his European hosts in Munich over their liberal values and immigration policies, President Donald Trump’s tirade against migration at the United Nations, and of course his mercurial support for Ukraine. The hope was that, all things considered, America would ultimately stand with Europe.

The Trump Administration’s National Security Strategy — a 33 page document that spends much time congratulating the President for saving America from apparently terminal decline as it charts an unapologetically MAGA-esque America-first mercantilist position — appears not to notice Africa, Australia and New Zealand. It sweeps by Asia as it focuses strongly on perceived trade imbalances with China and lands squarely on a defence of the ‘Western Hemisphere’ according to American interests while lamenting the decline of Europe. Europe is a problem, not an ally.

The stand on Europe

In ‘Promoting European Greatness’, the NSS warns of Europe’s ‘civilizational erasure’, precipitated by the European Union (EU)’s policies on migration and freedom of speech, ‘the suppression of political opposition’, and the ‘loss of national identities and self-confidence’. In case there was any doubt about which migrants were unwelcome, the NSS declares that if Europe continues on its present trajectory, ‘within a few decades … certain NATO members will become majority non-European.’ The U.S. will help Europe regain its ‘former greatness’ by choosing ‘patriotic European parties’ to promote what this administration views as ‘genuine democracy’ and ‘unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history’. To most Europeans, at best this reads as a meddling in the internal politics of sovereign nations, and at worst as regime change.

Europe, the NSS states, needs to stand on its own feet, assume ‘primary responsibility for its own defense’ and re-establish ‘strategic stability with Russia’. NATO ‘cannot be a perpetually expanding alliance’, a warning of course to Ukraine, but also an interesting glossing over of Sweden and Finland’s accession to the alliance after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. In this document, the threat is not Russia and its invasion of a sovereign nation, but Europe’s cultural decay. The tramp of the jackboots of 1930s Europe echos with every mention of civilisational decline.

Of course, an administration’s national security strategy is not policy, but a guide to its thinking. They can and have been over-ridden by events, most notably George H.W. Bush’s 1990 NSS, which was overtaken by the fall of the Berlin Wall, German reunification and the first Gulf War. Observers could chart the evolution of the administration’s thinking in the two subsequent iterations of 1991 and 1993.

Editorial | Notional security: On the U.S.’s National Security Strategy

As a high-level document, the NSS often provides the lens through which to interpret an administration’s foreign policy goals and is assumed to set the tone for the administration’s national defence strategy, its Quadrennial Defense Review and national military strategy. Mr. Trump’s famously mercurial nature might caution against viewing it as declared policy. However, given that this is a Congress-mandated document, it is more than just a rhetorical exercise: while it should not be taken literally, it should be taken seriously.

What Europe’s response could be

As the dust settles, Europe now faces three options in responding: it can ignore the NSS and hope that it will go away; its leaders can dial up their flattery of Mr. Trump in the hope that he will change his mind on Europe; or Europe can face up to the prospect that Mr. Trump’s America is not a reliable ally and that they will need to fend for themselves.

Europe tried a mixture of the first two strategies after J.D. Vance’s outburst at the Munich Security Conference. After some tepid talk of needing to pull together to see off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ‘imperialist’ ambitions in trying to ‘rewrite history’ or the need for Europe to wean itself off U.S. dependence, Europe doubled down on doing whatever it would take to keep America in NATO and Europe. Britain flattered Mr. Trump with an invitation for an unprecedented second state visit. Germany’s Friedrich Merz forgot about his observations of February this year as Chancellor-in-waiting that his ‘absolute priority will be to strengthen Europe … so that … we can really achieve independence from the USA’.

Germany has since abandoned half-explored plans of developing European capabilities and ordered more American military kit, which is dependent on American intelligence to work. NATO’s Hague Summit of June this year will be remembered as much for European states agreeing to raise their military spending to 5% of GDP as for Secretary-General Mark Rutte’s calling Mr. Trump ‘Daddy.’

The third option will not be easy. Europe has never defended itself as an entity and there is no concept of integrated European defence. Even limited projects of joint development of military kit tend not to get very far, as the stalled Franco-German project on sixth generation fighter jets demonstrates. If the U.S. pulls American troops out of Europe — as this administration has periodically hinted it might do — then Europe will have a serious manpower problem that experiments in ‘voluntary’ conscription will not even begin to address. Then there is the question of nuclear deterrence and Britain’s uneasy post-Brexit relationship with the EU and Europe.

The state of the world order

How Europe responds will have implications beyond the continent. Mr. Trump’s NSS, with its attack on transnational institutions (that he insists ‘undermine political liberty and sovereignty’), its dismantling of the post-war trading order in favour of a mercantilist America-first policy; and the signalling of a U.S. retreat into its own ‘Hemisphere’ (however that might be defined, and with the implication that China and Russia are free to carve up the rest of the world as long as they do not impinge on America’s trading footprint) have profound implications for the rest of the world. The post-war world order that America helped shape and uphold is imperfect and crumbling. The power imbalances at the United Nations and the Bretton Woods Institutions that help anchor expectations of peace, security, development and trade reflect an outdated world order. But, however imperfect this rules-based system might be, it is still a bulwark against a descent into a Hobbesian free-for-all, where might makes right.

The debate about this National Security Strategy is, therefore, not about a document that might shed light on an administration’s thinking. It is about whether Europe chooses to defend a rules-based liberal order or defers to a President whose transactional and racist view of the world will have consequences that stretch far beyond his borders.

Priyanjali Malik writes on nuclear politics and security

Published – December 17, 2025 12:16 am IST

Munich:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he blocked a Donald Trump-led deal that would give the US access to vast amounts of Ukrainian natural resources as it lacked “security guarantees” for Kyiv and “does not protect us”.

Trump, a businessman leader highly critical of the money Washington has sent to Ukraine to fight Russia’s invasion, has pushed for access to rare earths in Ukraine.

Zelensky’s announcement came a day after Ukrainian officials gave the US a draft of the agreement and three days after Trump called Russia’s Vladimir Putin, with Europe and Kyiv alarmed the pair will try to end the conflict without them.

“The agreement is signed at the ministerial level. But I am the president and I will have an impact on the quality of this document. That is why I did not allow ministers to sign the agreement because it is not ready,” Zelensky told journalist at the Munich Security Conference.

“In my opinion, it does not protect us. It is not ready to protect us, our interests,” he added.

“It must be written out legally correctly, correctly, and it is an investment… If all this is connected with security guarantees. I don’t see this connection in the document yet,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

German chancellor Olaf Scholz speaks at the 61st Munich Security Conference on February 15, 2025 in Munich, Germany.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivered a strong rebuke on Saturday (February 15, 2025) to U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right, saying it was not right for others to tell Germany and Europe what to do.

Mr. Vance lambasted European leaders on Friday, the first day of the Munich Security Conference, accusing them of censoring free speech and criticising German mainstream parties’ “firewall” against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“That is not appropriate, especially not among friends and allies. We firmly reject that,” Mr. Scholz told the conference on Saturday, adding there were “good reasons” not to work with the AfD.

The anti-immigration party, currently polling at around 20% ahead of Germany’s February 23 national election, has pariah status among other major German parties in a country with a taboo about ultranationalist politics because of its Nazi past.

“Never again fascism, never again racism, never again aggressive war. That is why an overwhelming majority in our country opposes anyone who glorifies or justifies criminal National Socialism,” Mr. Scholz said, referring to the ideology of Adolf Hitler’s 1933-45 Nazi regime.

Mr. Vance met on Friday with the leader of AfD, after endorsing the party as a political partner — a stance Berlin dismissed as unwelcome election interference.

Referring more broadly to Vance’s criticism of Europe’s curtailing of hate speech, which he has likened to censorship, Mr. Scholz said: “Today’s democracies in Germany and Europe are founded on the historic awareness and realisation that democracies can be destroyed by radical anti-democrats.

“And this is why we’ve created institutions that ensure that our democracies can defend themselves against their enemies, and rules that do not restrict or limit our freedom but protect it”, he said.

Munich:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Saturday for the creation of a European army, as he insisted Kyiv and its backers on the continent must be listened to in peace talks with Russia.

Speaking at a gathering of top policymakers in Munich, the Ukrainian leader said that with the return of President Donald Trump to the White House Europe could no longer count on Washington to always have its back.

Trump stunned allies and upended the status quo of US support for Ukraine this week when he announced he would likely soon meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin to start truce talks.

Zelensky’s rallying cry came a day after he met US Vice President JD Vance as Kyiv scrambles to ensure it is not sidelined in Washington’s push to wrap up the three-year war.

“Let’s be honest — now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” Zelensky said.

“I really believe that time has come. The Armed Forces of Europe must be created.”

The push for a joint continental force has been mooted for years without gaining traction and Zelensky’s intervention seems unlikely to shift the balance.

In the short-term, the priority for Kyiv remains ensuring its voice is heard at any peace talks involving Russia and that it doesn’t get a bad deal.

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement,” Zelensky said in a speech.

“No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine. No decisions about Europe without Europe.”

Zelensky cautioned Putin would seek to use Trump as a “prop in his own performance”, possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May.

Zelensky is pushing for “security guarantees” from both the United States and Europe to ensure that any peace deal does not allow Moscow just to restart the war later.

“Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,” he said.

The Ukrainian leader said forceful sanctions on Russia and building up Ukraine’s military could help secure peace, and said he was “open” to eventually having European peacekeepers.

‘No time to lose’ 

European leaders backed up Zelensky’s call to action and for their continent to play a key role.

“There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pressed Europe to establish its own stances on Ukraine and security as the United States sows doubts about its commitment to Europe.

“Europe urgently needs its own plan of action concerning Ukraine and our security, or else other global players will decide about our future,” Tusk said.

“This plan must be prepared now. There’s no time to lose.”

NATO boss Mark Rutte said that leaders in Europe were “now getting into the concrete planning phase” of possible security guarantees.

US officials have said that Ukraine will not be left in the cold after three years of battling Russia’s invasion.

Vance said after his sit-down with Zelensky that Washington was looking for a “durable, lasting peace” that would not lead to further bloodshed in coming years.

Rare earths deal? 

But US officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.

That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin.

In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare earths mineral deposits in return for future US security support.

Zelensky said the negotiations were ongoing after his meeting with Vance.

While Zelensky engages in his diplomatic push, on the ground in Ukraine the situation for his forces continued to deteriorate.

Russia’s army on Saturday claimed to have captured a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region close to a road linking key towns as Moscow slowly eats up territory.

Despite suffering heavy battlefield losses, the Russian army has been creeping forwards in eastern Ukraine for more than a year as it looks to cut off access to Pokrovsk.

The advances came after a Russian drone struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, with radiation levels remaining normal.

“A country that launches such attacks does not want peace. Not. They don’t want it,” Zelensky said.

“It is not preparing for dialogue.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the 61st Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany on February 15, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday (February 15, 2025) the time has come for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe” and says his country’s fight against Russia has proved that a foundation for it already exists.

The Ukrainian leader said Europe cannot rule out the possibility that “American might say no to Europe on issues that threaten it,” and noted that many leaders have long spoken about how Europe needs its own military.

“I really believe that time has come,” Mr. Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference. “The armed forces of Europe must be created.”

Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shot back strongly in defense of his stance against the far-right and said his country won’t accept people who “intervene in our democracy,” a day after U.S. Vice President JD Vance scolded European leaders over their approach to democracy.

The German leader spoke at the Munich Security Conference with just eight days before crucial elections in Germany, with polls showing the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — whose co-leader met with Vance on Friday — currently in second, ahead of Scholz’s own Social Democrats.

Even while lashing out at alleged U.S. meddling in Germany’s democracy, Scholz said he was “pleased” at what he called a shared commitment with the United States to the “preserving the sovereign independence of Ukraine,” and agreed with comments by U.S. President Donald Trump that Russia’s war in Ukraine must end.

But when it came to domestic politics, Scholz also alluded to Germany’s Nazi past, and said the longstanding commitment to “Never Again” — a return to the extreme right — was not reconcilable with support for AfD.

“We will not accept that people who look at Germany from the outside intervene in our democracy and our elections and in the democratic opinion-forming process in the interest of this party,” he said. “That’s just not done, certainly not amongst friends and allies. We resolutely reject this.”

“Where our democracy goes from here is for us to decide,” Scholz added.

A day earlier, Vance that he fears free speech is “in retreat” across the continent.

He said that many Americans saw in Europe “entrenched interests hiding behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way, or even worse, win an election.”

Scholz, shooting back, said “free speech in Europe means that you are not attacking others in ways that are against legislation and laws we have in our country.” He was alluding to rules in Germany that restrict hate speech.

The exchanges came as European leaders have been trying to make sense of a tough new line from Washington on issues including democracy and Ukraine’s future, as the Trump administration continues to upend transatlantic conventions that have been in place since after World War II.

Trump held a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week in which he said the two leaders would likely meet soon to negotiate a peace deal to end the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago. Trump later assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he, too, would have a seat at the table.

The Ukrainian leader said Friday that his country wants security guarantees before any talks with Russia. Shortly before meeting with Vance in Munich, Zelenskyy said he will only agree to meet in-person with Putin after a common plan is negotiated with Trump.

After a 40-minute meeting with Zelenskyy, Vance said the Trump administration wants the war to end.

Beforehand, Vance lectured European officials on free speech and illegal migration on the continent, warning that they risk losing public support if they don’t quickly change course.

“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,” Vance said in a speech that drew a tepid response. “What I worry about is the threat from within — the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”

On the sidelines of the event, Vance met with Alice Weidel, co-leader of AfD.

Mainstream German parties say they won’t work with the party, a longstanding stance to shun the extreme right in a country scarred by Nazism.

Vance later headed back to Washington.

Among other speakers set to take the dais in Munich on Saturday were NATO chief Mark Rutte and foreign ministers from countries including Canada, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and from Syria’s new interim government.

United States Vice-President JD Vance, second right, and United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, third right, meet with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Friday, Feb. 14, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance pledged on Friday (February 15, 2025) that Washington sought to secure a “lasting” peace as he held a first meeting with Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Donald Trump’s push for a deal with Moscow.

The talks in Munich were seen as a key moment for Kyiv as it tries to keep Washington on its side after Trump stunned allies by announcing truce efforts with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“We want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” Mr. Vance said as the meeting wrapped up.

He said “good conversations” had been had with Mr. Zelenskyy about how they could reach that goal, and they would have more talks “in the days, weeks and months to come”.

Mr. Zelenskyy also hailed a “good conversation”, saying the encounter with Mr. Vance was “our first meeting, not last, I’m sure”.

“We are ready to move as quickly as possible towards a real and guaranteed peace,” Mr. Zelenskyy later wrote on X, adding that an envoy from Washington would visit Kyiv.

Mr. Trump rattled Ukraine and its European allies on Wednesday by agreeing to launch peace talks in his first publicly announced call with Putin since returning to office.

The dramatic thaw in relations sparked fears Ukraine could be left out in the cold after nearly three years battling Moscow’s invasion.

U.S. officials have insisted that Zelensky will be involved in negotiations — and the Ukrainian leader said he would be prepared to sit down with Putin after agreeing a “common plan” with Trump.

“Only in this case I’m ready to meet,” Mr. Zelenskyy told the Munich Security Conference before seeing Mr. Vance.

Mr. Vance said ahead of the meeting that the United States was prepared to pressure Russia, adding that Europe should “of course” be at the table.

But he also told Europe to “step up” on bolstering its own defence to allow Washington to focus on threats elsewhere in the world.

U.S. officials have sent mixed messages over Washington’s strategy after Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth appeared to rule out Ukraine joining NATO or retaking all of its territory.

Trump’s phone number

That has sparked major worries in Kyiv and Europe that Ukraine could be forced into a bad deal that leaves the continent facing an emboldened Putin.

But Mr. Vance told the Wall Street Journal that Mr. Trump would put everything “on the table” in potential talks and that Washington could even use “military leverage” against Russia to force a deal.

He did not give more away in a keenly awaited keynote speech, as he avoided addressing the war in Ukraine and focused instead on scolding Europe over immigration and free speech.

Saudi Arabia, after being named by Mr. Trump as a likely venue for a meeting with Mr. Putin, said it would welcome holding any talks between the two leaders.

Mr. Zelenskyy appeared to play down fears that Trump was cutting out Kyiv, saying the U.S. President had given him his personal number when they spoke.

European allies, who along with Washington are Ukraine’s strongest backers, demanded they be included in negotiations that will impact their continent’s security.

French President Emmanuel Macron said he assured Mr. Zelenskyy that it is “Ukrainians alone who can drive the discussions for a solid and lasting peace” with Russia.

Mr. Zelenskyy said he had discussed with Macron “many important issues, including security guarantees and specific proposals from France”.

In a bid to keep Washington close, Kyiv has held talks over granting access to its rare mineral deposits in return for future U.S. security support.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen warned that forcing Ukraine into a bad deal would harm US interests.

“I believe that by working together, we can deliver that just and lasting peace,” she said.

Chernobyl strike

While Europe nervously monitors the U.S. stance on Ukraine, there is little ambiguity on Mr. Trump’s determination to get Europe to spend more on its defence.

Fears that Vance could announce a major U.S. troop reduction in Europe did not materialise, but he repeated warnings that Washington needed to focus more on other parts of the globe.

On the sidelines of the conference, Mr. Vance also met with the leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), Alice Weidel, according to German press.

It comes as Mr. Vance criticised Germany for blocking the far right from possibly sharing power in upcoming elections.

The conservative candidate and poll favourite Friedrich Merz insists he would not govern with the AfD or actively seek its support.

Amid the diplomatic flurry in Munich, Mr. Zelenskyy said that back on the ground in Ukraine a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, though he added that radiation levels were normal.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia had launched 133 drones across the country overnight, including attack drones, targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl plant lies.

Mr. Zelenskyy said the attack was evidence that “Putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations — he is preparing to continue deceiving the world”.

After Donald Trump announced his plans to initiate peace talks between  Russia and Ukraine following his phone calls with leaders of the respective countries, US Vice President JD Vance met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday and said Washington is targeting a “durable and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

NDTV spoke to the defence editor of The Economist, Shashank Joshi, one of the closest observers of the ongoing war, to understand how the peace talks are likely to progress as well as their larger geopolitical ramifications. 

To a question on where Russia stands on the deal, Mr Joshi replied, “So far, the good news for the Russians is that they have had a series of unilateral concessions upfront from the Americans – No NATO membership in Ukraine, no US support for European troops in Ukraine and no NATO Article 5 support for those troops.”

Article 5 of US-led NATO provides that if an ally is the victim of an armed attack, every other member of the alliance will consider this act of violence an armed attack against all members and will take the actions it deems necessary to assist the ally attacked.

Mr Joshi said Trump saying we should have Russia back in the G7 has made Kremlin “delighted”. However, Mr Joshi said at the Munich Security Conference, “JD Vance will deliver a message that says to the Russians as well if you don’t play nice, we can also up the pressure on you.” 

To a question on what lies for Ukraine in the US-brokered deal, he said, They recognise they’re not going to get Crimea back. For them, what is more, important than getting Donetsk, Luhansk and Donbas back is the security guarantee. He said for Ukraine, territory is not the core of the discussion, even though it is profoundly important to them but how to ensure Russia never invades them again will be central to the peace deal.

What Is In For Ukraine?

The defence expert said it would leave Zelensky casting around some other options. The Americans seem to be ruling out NATO membership, “although, with Trump, you never say never,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t rule out the option of European troops in Ukraine as the French are pushing for it. 

Despite scepticism from some countries, the option of European troops in Ukraine is on the table, Mr Joshi said.

“But I think we’re probably heading towards the third option, which is we are not going to give you Article 5 NATO-type security guarantees that say we will come to your aid and intervene, but we will arm you very heavily with billions of dollars worth of weapons so you can defend yourself against Russia,” he added.