A future European defense must also be combined with a unified foreign and security policy, according to the Ukrainian leader.
Europe needs a voice, not a dozen different voices. (USA's president) Trump doesn't like weak friends, he said in a speech at a security conference in Munich.
Blocking NATO?
Prior to the meeting, USA's president Donald Trump and his government have made headlines by clarifying that neither NATO membership for Ukraine nor US troops in Ukraine are currently on the agenda in a future peace scenario. However, according to Zelenskyj, US participation is required to make a security guarantee to Ukraine against Russia credible and reliable.
But right now, the most influential member of NATO seems to be Putin. He seems to have the power to block NATO decisions, Zelenskyj said in a critical statement against the defense alliance's division on the issue of Ukraine and the distribution of NATO costs.
Zelenskyj adds that Europe, Ukraine, and the USA must unite first, before Trump negotiates a peace plan with Russia's Putin:
We must work on it. Everyone must, not just me.
The speech follows Friday's controversial speech by USA's vice president JD Vance at the same conference. Vance upset many when he – instead of discussing security threats from Russia and China – seemed to interfere in the ongoing German election campaign by saying that the "threat from within" was greater.
USA senators Lindsey Graham (Republicans) and Jeanne Shaheen (Democrats) distanced themselves from these formulations when they appeared with NATO chief Mark Rutte on a panel on Saturday.
I don't think it's a good strategy to attack allies. Allies are one of NATO's strengths, Shaheen said.
"Must do more"
When Graham was about to begin his speech, his mobile phone rang.
I'll just see if it's Trump, he said when he checked who was calling.
He then returned to his speech and proposed a peace agreement where Ukraine is armed and tied to the USA with an agreement on rare earth metals. He also proposed a security guarantee to Ukraine in the form of automatic NATO membership if Russia were to attack again.
Increased European defense investments in response to the Russian war economy were the theme of Rutte's speech.
We must do more. It's not fair that Europe pays less than the USA for the common defense, he said.
