Zelensky, Scholz reject any US unilateralism in Ukraine peace efforts
Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday insisted no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without Kyiv and Europe as Germany’s chancellor also rejected JD Vance’s ‘intervention’.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday insisted that no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without Kyiv and Europe as the United States pushes to open talks with Moscow.
“No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine, no decisions about Europe without Europe. Europe must have a seat at the table,” Mr Zelensky told the Munich Security Conference.
US President Donald Trump blindsided Ukraine and its European allies by agreeing this week to meet Russia’s counterpart Vladimir Putin to start talks on ending the conflict.
Mr Zelensky has urged Washington to come up with a “common plan” to confront Russia but suggested there was no joint stance after a meeting with US Vice-President JD Vance on Friday.
“We cannot just agree to a ceasefire without real security guarantees, without pressure on Russia, without a system to keep Russia in check,” Mr Zelensky said.
Mr Zelensky said that security guarantees needed to include powerful sanctions on Russia and measures to build up Ukraine’s army.
He said Kyiv was “open” to proposals to deploy European troops as peacekeepers on the ground but that he still needed to “discuss details” with his counterparts on the continent.
The Ukrainian leader said Washington appeared to be “preparing the atmosphere” for the dialogue between Mr Trump and Putin.
But he warned that Putin would seek to use Mr Trump as a “prop in his own performance” – possibly by trying to get him to Moscow for Russia’s WWII victory parade in May.
“We must apply pressure together – to make real peace,” Mr Zelensky said. “Putin cannot offer real security guarantees, not just because he is a liar but because Russia in its current state needs war to hold power together,” he said.
The Ukrainian leader said Kyiv was still in the “process” of discussing a possible deal with Washington on granting access to rare earth deposits in return for security support.
In a broader message to Europe, Mr Zelensky issued a rallying cry for the continent to “act for your own sake” as questions hover over US backing in the face of the threat from Russia.
“Europe needs to come together and start acting in a way that no one can say no to Europe, boss it around, or treat it like a pushover,” he said, calling for a European army to be created.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Saturday said that the war between Ukraine and Russia would only truly end with peace if Ukrainian sovereignty is secured.
“There will only be peace if Ukraine’s sovereignty is secured,” Mr Scholz told the Munich Security Conference.
“A dictated peace will therefore never find our support.”
He added that “we will also not accept any solution that leads to a decoupling of European and American security. Only one person would benefit from this: President Putin.”
“We Europeans will represent these interests confidently and unitedly in the upcoming negotiations.”
Mr Scholz spoke shortly before Mr Zelensky was set to address the gathering of European leaders and policymakers in Germany.
Mr Scholz said that to ensure Russia would not attack again if peace is reached, Kyiv’s backers “first of all” needed to build up Ukraine’s armed forces in the future.
“There will be a responsibility in the post war times for Europe and for the United States and for the international partners and friends of Ukraine to make this happen,” he said.
“All the sort of security guarantees we give should be designed from this basis.’’
Mr Scholz on Saturday rejected foreign interference in German elections after Mr Vance told Europe to open the door to far-right parties.
Speaking on the same stage at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Scholz pushed back against Mr Vance’s blistering speech from the previous day and defended Germany’s taboo against including the far right in government coalitions.
Mr Scholz, whose country is holding elections on February 23, said that “we will not accept outsiders intervening in our democracy, in our elections. That is not appropriate – especially not among friends and allies.”
Mr Scholz started his speech by mentioning Mr Vance’s earlier visit to Nazi Germany’s Dachau concentration camp near Munich, and the US vice-president’s commitment to “never again” allow such crimes to be committed.
The crimes of the Holocaust were the reason “the vast majority of Germans is firmly opposed to those who glorify or justify” the Nazis, Mr Scholz said.
This was something that members of Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) had done by trivialising Nazi crimes, the chancellor said.
“A commitment to ‘never again’ cannot be reconciled with support for the AfD,” Mr Scholz said.
“That is why we will not accept outsiders intervening in our democracy, in our elections, in the democratic formation of opinion in favour of this party.
“That is not appropriate – especially not among friends and allies. “We decide for ourselves how our democracy will continue,” he said.
“We are absolutely clear that the extreme right should stay outside the political decision-making process and that there would be no co-operation with them,” Mr Scholz said, when pushed on Mr Vance’s comments during a question and answer session.
Mr Vance on Friday launched a broadside against Europe and Germany in particular, accusing them of limiting free speech and excluding parties that voice strong concerns over immigration.
Mr Vance told the Munich conference that “democracy rests on the sacred principle that the voice of the people matters”.
“There’s no room for firewalls,” he added, using the common term for the German political taboo against working with the far right.
The clash between the traditional allies comes just over a week before German national elections.
Mr Scholz’s centre-left Social Democrats are currently third in the polls on around 15 per cent of the vote.
The AfD is expected to score its best-ever national result, now polling in second place on around 20 per cent.
The race is being led by the conservative CDU/CSU bloc, whose support stands at around 30 per cent.
AFP
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