The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy Said Saturday that the time for the creation of a “armed forces in Europe” came, since the United States may no longer be geared towards supporting Europe.
In the meantime, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met the Americans because he interfered in the election of his country after the US Vice President JD Vance was able to show European leaders about their approach to democracy and met with the leader of a German right-wing extremist party.
In powerful speeches by Zelenskyy and Scholz on the second day of the Munich security conference, the effects of a snowstorm of decisions by US President Donald Trump underlined, which has a rapidly growing gap in transatlantic bonds.
According to Trump’s decision, the European heads of state and government are stunning to improve years of US politics by having talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, hoping to end the Russia-Ukraine War. Trump’s special representative for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday almost ruled out that Europeans will be accepted into all peace talks in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy, who increased his desire for a muscular and powerful Europe, said that the three-year fight against Russia in Ukraine has shown that a foundation for the creation of a European army-is there-a idea that has long been discussed under some continental leaders.
“I really think the time has come,” he said. “The armed forces in Europe have to be created.”
Zelenskyy alluded to a phone call between Trump and Putin this week. After that, Trump said that he and Putin would likely meet soon to negotiate a peace agreement about Ukraine-with the more difficult line of the bidet government against Moscow on the full invasion of Ukraine in Russia in Ukraine in Russia in 2022.
Trump later assured Zelenskyy that he too would have a place at the table to end the war. The Ukrainian leader insisted that Europe should also have one.
“Ukraine will never accept deals behind our back without our participation, and the same rule should apply to all of Europe,” said Zelenskyy, adding that “not once (Trump) was mentioned that America needs Europe at the table. “
“That says a lot,” he said. “The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always did.”
Get national news
For messages that influence Canada and all over the world, register notifications for Breaking News that will be delivered directly when you enter.
“Now that when we wage this war and laying the basics of peace and security, we have to build up the armed forces in Europe, said Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy said that in his idea it was not about replacing NATO. “This is about making Europe’s contribution to our partnership,” he said.
It is unclear whether the idea with European leaders will prevail. Zelenskyy has applied for greater military and economic support from the European Union for years and repeatedly warned that other parts of Europe could also be susceptible to Russia’s expansion.
While the block – together with the United States – was one of the strongest supporters of Kyiv, the political disagreement in the EU has supported support for Moscow and economic realities, including state debt that the defense spending.
Europeans who are probably excluded from Ukraine peace talks
The European leaders have tried to understand a tough new line from Washington in questions such as democracy and future of Ukraine, since the Trump government continues to improve transatlantic conventions that have been present since World War II.
General Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special representative for Ukraine and Russia, cut Europeans from all talks in Ukraine Russia, although Zelenskyys call to Europe is raised to participate.
“You can let the Ukrainians who let the Russians speak at the table,” said Kellogg at an event organized by a Ukrainian Tycoon. I urged whether this meant that the Europeans would not be accepted, he said: “I am a school of realism. I think that won’t happen. “
“We have to ensure Ukrainian sovereignty,” he said, before we add: the “European Alliance … will be crucial for this”.
When asked what he would say if he were at the conference, Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s Foreign Minister, said that he would remind Trump that the United States would have undertaken to stand with Ukraine as long as it takes until it takes secure your independence.
“The credibility of the United States depends on how this war ends – not only the Trump government (but the United States itself,” warned Sikorski.
Annalena Baerbock, Germany’s Foreign Minister, described the new US farming as a “moment of truth” in which the European leaders overcome their differences and have to combine for a meaningful peace in Ukraine.
“This is an existential moment. It’s a moment when Europe has to get up, ”she said. “There will be no permanent peace if it is not a European peace.”
Icelandic Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir now complained about a lack of clarity from Washington.
“People are still not sure what the United States wants to do. And I think it would be good if we got out of this conference if you had a clear picture of it, ”she said.
German Chancellor strikes back at Vance
Previously, Scholz said that he was “pleased” about a joint obligation with the United States to “preserve the sovereign independence of Ukraine”, and agreed to Trump that the Russia Ukraine War had to end.
But Scholz also condemned the new political tang from Washington and confirmed his strong attitude towards right -wing extremists and said that his country would not accept any people who “intervene in our democracy”.
A day earlier, Vance tasted the leaders of Europe at the conference and suggested that freedom of speech on the entire continent was “in retreat”. He said that many Americans in Europe “anchored interests, which saw themselves behind ugly Soviet words such as misinformation and disinformation”, hidden “hidden interests”.
Vance said that no democracy could survive to tell millions of voters that their concerns are “invalid or unworthy of being even considered”. He also met with the co-leader of the right-wing extremist alternative for the Germany Party (AfD), who asked second place in Germany before the elections on February 23 in Germany.
Scholz alluded to the National Socialist past in Germany and said that the longstanding commitment to “never again” – a return to extreme law – was not conciliatory with support for AfD.
“We will not accept that people who look at Germany from the outside intervene in our democracy and in our elections and in the democratic opinion formation process in the interest of this party,” he said. “It is simply not enough, certainly not among friends and allies. We decidedly reject this. “
“We have to decide where our democracy goes from here,” added Scholz.
