Zelensky tells Vance Ukraine wants ‘security guarantees’ before talks to end war

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country wants “security guarantees” before any talks with Russia, as the Trump administration presses both countries to find a quick endgame to the three-year war.

Shortly before sitting down with US vice president JD Vance for highly anticipated talks at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Zelensky said he will only agree to meet in-person with Russian leader Vladimir Putin after a common plan is negotiated with US President Donald Trump.

The roughly 40-minute meeting between Mr Vance and Mr Zelensky produced no major announcements detailing the way out of the deadliest war in Europe since the Second World War.

Mr Zelensky made a plaintive statement about the state of play.

“We want peace very much,” he said. “But we need real security guarantees.”

Mr Vance, for his part, said the Trump administration is committed to finding a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.

“Fundamentally, the goal is, as President Trump outlined it, we want the war to come to a close,” Mr Vance said.

“We want the killings to stop. Not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple of years down the road.”

Mr Trump upended years of steadfast US support for Ukraine this week following a phone call with Mr Putin, when he said the two leaders would probably meet soon to negotiate a peace deal.

The US president later assured Mr Zelensky that he, too, would have a seat at the table.

Before his meeting with Mr Zelensky, Mr Vance lectured European officials on free speech and illegal migration on the continent, warning elected officials that they risk losing public support if they do not quickly change course.

“The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China. It’s not any other external actor,” the US vice president said.

“What I worry about is the threat from within – the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”

He warned European officials: “If you’re running in fear of your own voters there’s nothing America can do for you.”

Mr Vance’s speech, and his passing mention of the three-year-old war in Ukraine, came at a time of intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

“In Washington, there is a new sheriff in town. And under Donald Trump’s leadership, we may disagree with your views, but we will fight to defend your right to offer it in the public square,” Mr Vance said to tepid applause.

The vice president also warned European officials against illegal migration, saying the electorate did not vote to open “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants” and referencing an attack on Thursday in Munich where the suspect is a 24-year-old Afghan who arrived in Germany as an asylum seeker in 2016.

The violence left more than 30 people injured and appears to have had an Islamic extremist motive.

Earlier on Friday, Mr Vance met separately with German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte, and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

He used the engagements to reiterate the Republican administration’s call for Nato members to spend more on defence.

Currently, 23 of Nato’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s target of spending 2% of the nation’s GDP on defence.

“We want to make sure that Nato is actually built for the future, and we think a big part of that is ensuring that Nato does a little bit more burden sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia,” Mr Vance told Mr Rutte.

Mr Rutte said he agreed that Europe needs to step up.

“We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more,” he said.