Zelensky calls for ‘armed forces of Europe’ as EU leaders bristle at new US policies on Ukraine

Munich: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says the time has come for the creation of an “armed forces of Europe” because the United States may no longer be counted on to support the continent.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz hit back at Americans for meddling in his country’s election after US Vice President J.D. Vance scolded European leaders over their approach to democracy and met the leader of a German far-right party.

Forceful speeches from Zelensky and Scholz on the second day of the Munich Security Conference underlined the impact of a blizzard of decisions by US President Donald Trump that show a rapidly growing chasm in trans-Atlantic ties.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz (right), with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, condemned the new political tack from Washington.Credit: AP

European leaders are reeling after Trump’s decision to upend years of US policy by holding talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in hopes of ending the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) all but ruled out that Europeans would be included in any Ukraine peace talks.

Ramping up his desire for a more muscular Europe, Zelensky said Ukraine’s nearly three-year fight against Russia’s full-scale invasion had proved that a foundation existed for the creation of a European army – an idea long discussed among some leaders on the continent.

“I really believe that time has come,” he said. “The armed forces of Europe must be created.”

It’s unclear whether the idea will catch on with European leaders. Zelensky has sought greater military and economic support from the European Union for years and repeatedly warned that other parts of Europe could be vulnerable to Russia’s expansionist ambitions.

While the bloc – along with the US – has been one of Kyiv’s strongest backers, pockets of political disagreement over its approach to Moscow and economic realities, including national debt levels that have crimped defence spending, have stood in the way of greater support.

Zelensky rejected an offer from the Trump administration this week to relinquish 50 per cent of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for continued US support, the New York Times reported. He later told The Associated Press he “didn’t let” his ministers sign a minerals agreement with the US because “it is not ready to protect us, our interest”.

Earlier, Zelensky alluded to a phone conversation between Trump and Putin this week, after which Trump said he and Putin would probably meet soon to negotiate a peace deal over Ukraine – breaking with the Biden administration’s harder line against Moscow over Russia’s all-out assault on Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the US State Department said on Saturday (Sunday AEDT) that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken by phone. Rubio reaffirmed Trump’s “commitment to finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine. In addition, they discussed the opportunity to potentially work together on a number of other bilateral issues”, US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.

Trump previously assured Zelensky that he would have a seat at the table to end the war, and the Ukrainian leader insisted that Europe should also have one.

“Ukraine will never accept deals made behind our backs without our involvement, and the same rule should apply to all of Europe,” Zelensky said, adding that “not once did [Trump] mention that America needs Europe at the table”.

“That says a lot,” he said. “The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had.”

Rubio, US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff planned to meet with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia next week to discuss a path to ending the war, the New York Times reported. It was unclear whether Ukrainian officials would take part.

Europeans likely excluded from Ukraine peace talks

European leaders have been trying to make sense of a tough new line from Washington on issues including democracy and Ukraine’s future as the Trump administration continues to upend trans-Atlantic conventions that have been in place since after World War II.

Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, all but cut Europeans out of any Ukraine-Russia talks, despite Zelensky’s call for Europe to take part.

US Vice President J.D. Vance chastised Europe’s leaders at the conference and suggested that free speech was “in retreat” across the continent.Credit: AP

“You can have the Ukrainians, the Russians, and clearly the Americans at the table talking,” Kellogg said at an event hosted by a Ukrainian tycoon. Pressed on whether that meant Europeans wouldn’t be included, he said: “I’m a school of realism. I think that’s not going to happen.”

“We need to ensure Ukrainian sovereignty,” he said, before adding: The “European alliance ... are going to be critical to this.”

At the conference, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock described the new US stance as a “moment of truth” that requires European leaders to overcome their differences and unite for a meaningful peace in Ukraine.

“This is an existential moment. It’s a moment where Europe has to stand up,” she said. “There won’t be any lasting peace if it’s not a European-agreed peace.”

French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to gather European counterparts and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte for crisis talks on Monday (Tuesday AEDT), London’s Telegraph reported.

Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir lamented a lack of clarity from Washington.

“People are still not sure what the US wants to do. And I think it would be good if we came out of this conference if they had a clear picture of it,” she said.

German chancellor hits back at Vance

Earlier, Scholz said he was “pleased” at what he called a shared commitment with the US to “preserving the sovereign independence of Ukraine” and agreed with Trump that the Russia-Ukraine war must end.

But Scholz also condemned the new political tack from Washington, affirming his strong stance against the far-right and said his country won’t accept people who “intervene in our democracy”.

A day earlier, Vance chastised Europe’s leaders at the conference and suggested that free speech was “in retreat” across the continent.

The vice president said no democracy could survive telling millions of voters that their concerns “are invalid or unworthy of even being considered”. He also met the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, party, which is polling second ahead of Scholz’s Social Democrats before the February 23 election in Germany.

Alluding to Germany’s Nazi past, Scholz said the longstanding commitment to “Never Again” – a return to the extreme right – wasn’t reconcilable with support for AfD.

“We will not accept that people who look at Germany from the outside intervene in our democracy and our elections and in the democratic opinion-forming process in the interest of this party,” he said. “That’s just not done, certainly not amongst friends and allies. We resolutely reject this.”

Not all responses from European leaders were negative.

President Karin Keller-Sutter of Switzerland, which isn’t an EU member, was quoted by Swiss daily Le Temps as saying Vance had spoken about “values to defend and that we share, like freedom and the possibility for people to express themselves”.

with Emma Burrows and Susie Blann

AP

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.