US President Trump had made a one-half hour phone call to the Russian head of state Vladimir Putin on Wednesday without coordinating with the Europeans in advance. Afterwards, Trump said that he had agreed with the Kremlin boss an “immediate” start of negotiations on the future of Ukraine.
In Western allies, this aroused fear that Ukraine and European partners were excluded from the Ukraine talks. The US government later made it clear that Kiev should be involved in the talks.
At the Munich Security Conference, US Vice President JD Vance also spoke out in favor of the negotiations on Friday. Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said in Munich on Saturday that the Europeans would not sit at the negotiating table – but could make a “contribution”. Kellogg wants to receive from Leyen on Monday before the Paris meeting in Brussels.
In view of the recent statements by the US government, calls for a more confident European defense policy were made at the Munich Security Conference. The strengthening of European skills must “take place in a clearly defined time frame,” said Scholz in Munich on Saturday. The British Prime Minister Keir Strander asked the European countries to play a larger role in NATO.
Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, who first spoke of a meeting of European heads of state and government planned for Monday in Paris in Munich, warned in online service X: “We have to show our strength and unity.”
