US Secretary of State Marco Rubio officially announced that he met on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the two discussed strengthening Ukraine's defense and economic partnership between the two countries, Reuters reported.
Earlier, Zelensky's office reported about the meeting with Rubio in Munich, noting that strengthening Ukraine's air defense and the next steps in the trilateral talks to end the war in Ukraine were discussed, Ukrinform reported.
The new round of talks between Kiev, Moscow and Washington is scheduled for next week in the Swiss city of Geneva.
"The head of state informed (Rubio) about the situation on the front lines, the ongoing Russian strikes and the consequences of these attacks for the energy grid. One of the topics discussed during the meeting was how to help Ukraine with air defense missiles in cold weather," the information from the presidential office said.
At the same time, Zelensky and Rubio paid special attention to the diplomatic process of the negotiations in a trilateral format.
The President of Ukraine thanked the United States for its constructive approach and stressed the importance of ensuring the productivity of the negotiations in Geneva.
The two also discussed the sequence of the next steps to achieve peace in Ukraine. Kiev believes that a meeting at the leadership level should ultimately be held to resolve the most sensitive issues, the statement from Zelensky's office added.
On the other hand, Rubio informed that he also had a meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, and the topic of this conversation was the security of the supply chain, including strategic natural resources, Reuters reported.