Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks to US outlet NBC News at the Munich Security Conference, February 2025

EA on BBC and India’s WION: Trump Abandons Ukraine

Sunday’s Coverage: Trump Administration To Meet Russians in Saudi Arabia

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1340 GMT:

While European countries such as the UK, Sweden, and Norway have indicated willingness to put troops into a peacekeeping force in Ukraine, others have poured cold water on the idea.

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has repeated that Warsaw will not participate.

He said the issue was “settled”, with Poland ready to continue its logistical, financial, humanitarian. and military support for Ukraine.

Tusk did indicate acceptance of others putting in troops: “We will be supporting, through logistics and political support, other countries willing to make such guarantees.”

But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said of discussion of a peacekeeping force, “Unfortunately we are still a long way off”.

“It’s quite clear that a very strong Ukrainian army, even in peacetime, must be at the core,” said Scholz. That army will be “a great task for Europe, for the US, and international alliance partners”.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof has taken a cautious position that he is “not negative” to deployment — “we understand that Europe has to do something here” — but the discussion has to be conducted properly and any operation must be backed by the US.

UPDATE 1232 GMT:

Three civilians have been killed and eight injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

Two people were slain in the Donetsk region in the east and one in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

Other casualties were reported in the Kharkiv and Kyiv regions.

Air defenses downed 83 of 147 drones launched by Russia on 10 regions overnight. Another 59 drones were lost to electronic counter-measures.

UPDATE 1224 GMT:

Speaking to journalists from the UAE, Ukraine President Zelensky has said, “Ukraine regards any negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine as ones that have no result, and we cannot recognize…any agreements about us without us.”

He noted that “for the first time” China has shown interest in settlement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky again pushed back on Donald Trump’s plan to get rare earth minerals from Ukraine, saying his country cannot be seen as a “simple supplier of raw materials” and any deal has to include additional security guarantees.

UPDATE 1219 GMT:

Ahead of tomorrow’s direct talks with a US delegation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has ruled out any concession over Moscow’s occupation of part of Ukraine.

Lavrov also objected to any European involvement in discussions:

I don’t know what they would do at the negotiating table….If they are going to sit at the negotiating table with the aim of continuing war, then why invite them there?

UPDATE 1209 GMT:

Russian hackers have attacked Italian banks and the transport system, moments after Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said comments by Italy’s President Sergio Matterella will not go “without consequences”.

At University of Marseilles earlier this month, Mattarella compared Russia to Nazi Germany over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“During a lecture at an educational institution, he said he believed that Russia could be equated with the Third Reich,” Zakharova said, “This cannot, and will never, be left without consequences”.

The hackers “NoName57” then attacked Italy’s telematic system of transportation and several Italian banks, declaring Mattarella as “Anti-Russian”.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said the attacks against Mattarella “offend the whole nation, which the head of state represents”.

She added in the statement, “I express my full solidarity, as well as that of the entire Government, to President Mattarella, who has always firmly supported the condemnation of the aggression perpetrated against Ukraine.”

UPDATE 0854 GMT:

Emergency power outages have been introduced across Ukraine after overnight Russian attacks on energy facilities.

The outages include the Kyiv, Kherson, and Dnipropetrosck regions.

In the Kyiv region, one person was wounded, and private houses, cars, a workshop, and warehouses were damaged. The regional military administration said there were no hits on critical infrastructure facilities.

In the Zaporizhia region in the south, warehouses were damaged. There were no casualties.

Damage was also reported in the Kharkiv, Sumy, and Poltava regions.

UPDATE 0812 GMT:

Closing the Munich Security Conference on Sunday, chairman Christoph Heusgen recalls that it was created as a platform to strengthen trans-Atlantic ties. However, after the speech by US Vice President J.D. Vance, the shared values between participating countries have become “less obvious”.

Thanking all attendees, especially Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Heusgen verges on tears. He steps down into the hall, receiving a standing ovation.

UPDATE 0737 GMT:

A Ukrainian drone strike has set a large fire at the Ilsky oil refinery in the Krasnodar region in southwest Russia.

Videos on social media showed the blaze in the Seversky district. Residents reported hearing explosions around 1:30 a.m.

Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said a “massive attack” injured a woman and damaged 12 homes, but he did not mention the refinery.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he will never accept the outcome of US-Russia discussions over Moscow’s three-year invasion, without the participation of Kyiv.

A Trump Administration delegation is scheduled to meet Russian officials on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio; National Security Advisor Mike Waltz; and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff will lead the delegation. There was no mention that Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine, will attend.

In an hour-long interview with US outlet NBC News at the Munich Security Conference, broadcast on Sunday, Zelensky said:

I will never accept any decisions between the United States and Russia about Ukraine and our adults and children. Ever.

This is the war in Ukraine against us and it is our human losses.

He called for a “common plan” between Ukraine, the US, and Europe.

He added in a post on social media:

We have this place at the table at the very beginning, and we are the first who are at this table because the war is in Ukraine.

We are thankful for all the support, unity in the U.S. around Ukraine support – even bipartisan support – we are thankful for all of this, but there is no leader in the world that can make a deal with [Vladimir] Putin without us, about us.

Zelensky said he had positive meetings with Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance at the conference, as well as a “good call” with Donald Trump, over “prodcutive steps…for our security” and “for both nations”.

Our teams are working throughly and in detail on a special agreement between our countries—one that will certainly strengthen both America and Ukraine. We are committed to making it a real success, exactly as we agreed.

However, he acknowledged that he was not consulted in advance about the forthcoming US-Russia discussions: “We didn’t talk about it. The media printed something. I saw that someone said that there would be a meeting in Saudi Arabia. I do not know what it is.”

He played to Trump by portraying him as a man of strength in contrast to Putin’s weakness.

I said that [Putin] is a liar.

[Trump] said, “My feeling is he is ready for these negotiations.”

And I said to him, “No, he’s a liar. He doesn’t want peace. But he is a little bit scared of President Trump, and I think the President has this chance. He is strong, and he can push Putin to peace negotiations.

Trump told reporters on Sunday, “I think [Putin] wants to stop fighting. I see that. We spoke long and hard.”

Zelensky Rejects Trump Plan for 50% of Ukraine’s Minerals

Zelensky rejected the Trump Administration’s plan for 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, in return for past US assistance to Kyiv.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented the draft contract to Zelensky in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The President told the Munich Security Conference, I did not allow the ministers to sign the agreement because, in my opinion, it’s not ready to protect us, our interests. There are no security guarantees.”

He added in the NBC interview, “If we are not given the security guarantees from the United States, I believe that the economic treaty will not work. It must all be fair.”

US National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes snapped that Washington is “tired” of sending additional aid to Ukraine and that the mineral deal would allow American taxpayers to “return” their previous investments in Ukraine.

He said Zelensky’s refusal to send minerals to the US is “short-sighted”.

Europe’s Emergency Summit in Paris

Zelensky travelled on Sunday from Munich to the UAE for discussions of Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchanges.

European leaders will hold an emergency summit in Paris in Monday. The meeting was called by French President Emmanuel Macron after speeches by US Vice President Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Munich conference.

Vance, encouraging far-right parties to claim power across Europe, and Hegseth set out an American withdrawal from security arrangements for the Europeans and for Ukraine.

The Paris summit will include the leaders of France, Poland, Germany, the UK, Italy and Denmark, representing the Baltic and Scandinavian countries, as well as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote, in an article published on Sunday, that he is ready to deploy British troops in Ukraine as part of a peacekeeping force.

We are facing a once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our continent. This is not only a question about the future of Ukraine – it is existential for Europe as a whole.

Securing a lasting peace in Ukraine that safeguards its sovereignty for the long term is essential if we are to deter Putin from further aggression in the future.