US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would have the opportunity to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Munich as Russian strikes left thousands of people in Ukraine without electricity, the British newspaper "Guardian" wrote in a headline, BTA reported in the press review.
A year after US Vice President J.D. Vance shocked the assembled dignitaries with a verbal attack on many of the US's closest allies in Europe, Rubio plans to take a less polemical but philosophically similar approach when he addresses participants at this year's conference tomorrow, US officials said.
Before leaving for Germany last night, Rubio used reassuring words, describing Europe as an important for Americans. "We are very closely linked to Europe", he told reporters. The US secretary of state also made it clear that things would not continue as they have been, saying: "We are living in a new era in geopolitics and that will require all of us to rethink what that looks like".
The war in Ukraine will be on the agenda of the Munich conference, and French President Emmanuel Macron, who is also traveling to Germany, said he hoped to resume talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Macron said on Tuesday that he did not expect to speak to Putin in the coming days and that European countries must first agree on what they want from Russia. "This is not a matter of days, preparation is needed", the French leader told journalists after talks with European Union leaders.
Faced with a world "of turmoil", Europeans meet in Munich, the French newspaper "Figaro" headlined.
Established more than 60 years ago, the Munich Security Conference serves as a reflection of all the turmoil in the world.
In 2007, Vladimir Putin's sharp-tongued speech marked the rift between Russia and the Western world, foreshadowing the wars that would follow – in Georgia in 2008, and then in Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. At the time, few European leaders realized the seriousness of the threat, Le Figaro points out.
Last year, during the Munich Conference, US Vice President J.D. Vance announced a rupture in transatlantic relations, sharply attacking a liberal Europe, which he said was guilty of not respecting freedom of expression and allowing itself to be flooded by migrants, risking the destruction of its own civilization. His words left Europeans in shock.
In less than 20 minutes, the American vice president threw Europe into a stupor, causing a split in transatlantic relations, notes another French publication, Le Monde.
The threat that worries me most about Europe is not Russia, it is not China, it is not any other external factor. What worries me is the internal threat: Europe's retreat from some of its most fundamental values. "Values shared with the United States," Vance said in a speech that was met with criticism, the French publication said.
As world leaders gather in Munich, Ukraine's fate hangs in the balance, writes the headline of the publication "Politico".
For the past three years, the annual Munich Security Conference has been the backdrop for high-stakes talks about Russia's war in Ukraine. This year, it is likely to serve as a stark reminder of how stalled the negotiations have become.
Dozens of world leaders and dignitaries, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, will gather today at the luxurious "Bayerischer Hof" hotel. But six European officials said they did not expect any concrete results from the meeting, beyond statements of solidarity with Kiev, Politico reported.
Zelensky is likely to use the conference, which will continue through the weekend, to call for more pressure on Russia and show a united front with Europe.
The Ukrainian leader appears to be counting on the Trump administration's desire for a quick deal. Zelensky said last week that Washington was pressuring both Kiev and Moscow to end the war by early summer because of the U.S. midterm elections in November.
During last year's Munich Security Conference, where US Vice President J.D. Vance criticized the European elite, saying that the "internal threat" to Europe was more dangerous than that posed by Russia and China, Zelensky was able to meet with Vance and Rubio, ahead of Russian-Ukrainian peace talks in Riyadh.
American and European officials say that American diplomacy under Trump is producing concrete results. As a result of these diplomatic efforts, the US and Europe have agreed to significant commitments to Ukraine's security if a ceasefire is agreed, notes "Politico".