vice president jd vance Ukrainian President Voldimia Zelensky held a High Stakes Conference at this year’s Munich Security Conference to discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine. Vance said the US wants “durable” peace Zelenskyy He expressed his desire for broader discussion in preparation for the end of the conflict.
“We want the killing to be stopped, but we want to achieve durable and lasting peace,” Vance said. “It’s not a peace that Eastern Europe will fall into conflict in a few years.”
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Zelenskyy thanked Vance at the meeting, but emphasized the need to address Ukraine’s security assurances in negotiating the end of the conflict, which is about to enter its fourth year.
“Really, all we need is to talk more, work more and prepare a plan for how to stop Putin and end the war,” Zelensky said. “We really want this, but we need actual security guarantees.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoys of Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, and deputy envoy of the Middle East Morgan Ortags, were at the table with Vance.
President Trump We spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. On Wednesday he instructed his national security team to begin work on negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Treasury Secretary Scott Becent met Zelensky on Wednesday, Kiev, the first top Trump administration official to meet in person with the Ukrainian president since the beginning of Trump’s second term.
After that meeting, Zelensky said Ukraine would prepare an agreement to strengthen Ukraine’s security and economic ties with the United States in relation to the country’s rare earth minerals.
Before the Munich Conference, Trump indicated that aid to Ukraine could be conditional on access to rare earth minerals in the country.
“We have all this money out there, so I say I want to get it back and I said I want them to have something equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth. “The president recently told Fox News. “They essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t think we’re stupid.”
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Friday that the US should arm Ukraine with a “bunch” of F-16 fighter jets in exchange for minerals.
“What do you think of Putin? You’ll arm this man with his teeth,” Graham said in Munich. “So let’s arm this guy. Let’s have a mineral agreement. We have American business interests. Putin doesn’t understand what’s going on. Sign this mineral agreement. Then Trump defends the deal, so Putin gets screwed.
Graham also said Ukraine’s NATO membership should remain at the table as a threat to Putin.
“If they don’t agree that they should be at NATO like they are now, then if there is another invasion, the moment they invade they can agree to join NATO,” Graham said. I did. “I think Putin will let him know if he does this again, they’ll get into NATO really fast.”
At a gathering in Munich last year, Vance, then-US Senator, refused to meet Zelensky.
The Vice President also met with NATO Executive Director General Mark Latte, German President Frank Walter Steinmeyer and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday.
The negotiated settlement to end the war in Ukraine was the central focus of Vance’s discussion with world leaders at this week’s meeting, sources told CBS News.
Vance did not respond to questions from reporters when asked if Ukraine could join NATO.
At the oval office on Wednesday, Trump said the idea that Ukraine would have NATO join from the negotiation table was “ok,” and characterised the proposal as “unpractical.”
Speaking at the conference, Vance hopes Trump wants NATO’s European allies to donate at least 5% of their gross domestic product to increase security spending, and he has also built that point in meetings with European leaders. I repeated this.
“The Trump administration is very interested in European security and believes it can reach a reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine, but in a great way that Europe will provide it in the coming years. I believe it’s important to step up, Vance said.
Vance spoke to Europeans at the conference, saying, “The threat I most concerned about with Europe is not Russia, not China.”
“What I’m worried about is the threat from within, the European setback from some of its most fundamental values, the values ​​shared with the United States,” the Vice President said.
And he condemned the enforcement measures taken by European allies against their citizens, convicted Sweden of men who burned the Quran, and people suspected of posting misogynistic hate speech online. raids and cases in Britain. Convicted of a man accused of violating a safety zone near an abortion clinic to pray.
“If you are afraid of the voices and opinions that guide your people, I believe there is no deep security,” Vance said, “If you are running in fear from your own voters, There’s nothing America can do you.”
I contributed to this report.
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