Zelenskyy to meet with US Vice President before Munich conference
Photo: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy (Vitaliy Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with US Vice President J.D. Vance before the start of a security conference in Munich, Reuters reports.
Vance told reporters upon his arrival at the conference that he intends to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war and ways to reach a negotiated solution, German news service Tagesschau reports.
Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Munich. The meeting will also be attended by US Vice President J.D. Vance.
However, it is currently unclear whether Rubio will be able to attend, as his US Air Force plane en route to Munich was forced to return to Washington due to a mechanical malfunction.
Negotiations in Munich
Trump's phone call with Putin and his optimistic description of the conversation overturned years of US policy under the Biden administration, which has treated Putin as an international pariah since the invasion of Ukraine.
Trump said that US and Russian officials would also meet in Munich on February 14. Ukraine has also been invited to the meeting. But Kyiv has said it does not expect to hold talks with Russia in Munich.
No Russian officials have been invited to the three-day conference, which is being held at a luxury hotel in the city center, but that would not prevent a meeting elsewhere in Munich.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Vance said that the United States was ready to increase sanctions pressure on Russia and allowed the deployment of American troops to Ukraine. According to him, this is possible if Vladimir Putin does not want to agree on a fair peace.
Vance said that in the end, a peace agreement would be concluded that would shock many people.
