Europe will be "consulted" but ultimately excluded from the talks, says Keith Kellogg, President Donald Trump's Ukraine envoy, during the ongoing security conference in Munich, according to The Guardian.
The message contradicts what the US Vice President JD Vance said in Munich on Friday. He stated that Europe "naturally" should be involved in all talks about ending the war in Ukraine.
In a later conversation at the conference, Kellogg tried to reassure European leaders that he did not mean that Europe's interests would not be taken into account, writes Reuters.
Lavrov and Rubio on the phone
It has been since US President Donald Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin that concerns have been raised that the US and Russia might try to reach a peace agreement without Ukrainian and European participation.
On Saturday evening, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spoke with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to both Russia's and the US's foreign ministries. In addition to the Ukraine war, opportunities for cooperation on other issues were also discussed, a spokesperson for the US State Department announced.
Rubio is expected to travel to Saudi Arabia in the coming days to meet with Russian and Ukrainian representatives, according to reports in several media outlets.
Kristersson: Should be a matter of course
Sweden's Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard wrote through her press secretary to TT that she participated in the same meeting as Kellogg in Munich.
"If Europe is to be able to contribute to maintaining peace, Europe must have a seat at the table when peace is negotiated. I also emphasized this at the meeting. It's about Europe's future and security. No peace can be negotiated without Ukraine, and no negotiations about our security without Europe," the Foreign Minister stated.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks in similar terms.
If one means seriously that there should be no talks about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no talks about European security without Europe, then it's a matter of course. And therefore, I think, like everyone else, that it should be a matter of course, Kristersson tells SR Ekot.
The Prime Minister also adds that it is ultimately up to the US to decide who is invited to their negotiating table, and that it is no longer possible to count on the US taking the same responsibility for European security as before.
Zelensky warned
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky warned in his speech in Munich earlier during the conference that Europe would likely be excluded from the negotiations, and urged Europe to step forward more and form a European army.
Poland's Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski writes on X that French President Emmanuel Macron has called European leaders to a meeting in Paris on Monday.
Macron has not yet confirmed the meeting.
