Munich Security Conference live: Zelenskyy criticises Orbán and joins Starmer in calling for European unity

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US senator Wicker offers his take on the state of negotiations, as he says that Putin “has not yet negotiated in good faith, never once.”

He says:

“Vladimir Putin started this war. He’s a war criminal, and as you’ve pointed out, he started committing more war crimes this year, by attacking civilians.

He will begin to negotiate in good faith only when he is hurting.”

Nato’s Rutte gets asked about security guarantees, and his response to the Russian claim – somewhat repeated today by China’s foreign minister Wang Yi – that there are “historical reasons” for the invasion.

He says strongly that “there was absolutely no reason whatsoever for the Russians to invade Ukraine,” whether in 2014 in Crimea or in 2022 with the full-scale invasion.

On security guarantees, he repeats his main line from this conference that there is “a huge shift in mindset within Nato” as “the Europeans take more responsibility for their own defence.”

He says the key thing is to “make sure that Putin will never, ever to try invade again.”

As is now usual for his public statements, he also defends Trump’s record on negotiating with Russia, and says he remains the only leader that can get Putin to move.

Zelenskyy says he feels 'little bit' of US pressure, but there are limits to compromises he can offer

Zelenskyy gets asked about Trump’s latest comments, in which the US president said he should “get moving” and get a deal with Russia.

Is he feeling the pressure?

“A little bit,” he says with a bit of a smile.

He says he understands these signals from Trump, but says Ukraine keeps compromising on several issues.

He says he is ready to discuss many issues, but Ukraine cannot just “run away” from its own territory with hundreds of thousands of people as “a compromise.”

“We don’t hear compromises from Russian side. We want to hear from them something,” he says.

He also gets asked about recent media reporting that the US keeps pushing Ukraine to hold elections, and repeats his pledge from last night: if the US secures a ceasefire for two-three months, he will hold the election.

He then pointedly jokes:

“We can also [offer] ceasefire for Russians if they will do elections in Russia.”

US Republican senator Roger F. Wicker says “what we need specifically is we need to unleash the Tomahawk missiles” on Russia.

“That’s a message that will come from the Congress, [but] it’s the decision of the administration,” he says.

He also urges further sanctions on Russian oil producers.

He says the US public opinion is increasingly supportive of Ukraine, including among Republican voters.

European parliament’s president Roberta Metsola says she will sign off the EU’s €90bn loan to Ukraine next week, which she says was agreed “at an unprecedented speed.”

She highlights extraordinary levels of solidarity with Ukraine, as demonstrated by loud cheers for Ukrainian athletes during the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games earlier this month.

She says the EU continues to work on its response, working on the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, too.

And she declares her support for Ukraine’s membership of the EU (which continues to be blocked by Hungary, in particular.)

Nato’s Mark Rutte is speaking next, talking about his experience of visiting Ukraine last week as the country had to respond to extreme temperatures amid continued Russian strikes on its energy infrastructure.

He says the Ukrainians he met told him they would never give in to Russian attacks.

He then stresses that “to stay strong in this fight, we have to realise the Russians are not winning this,” as they make “very small gains,” “so small that it’s almost not relevant.”

He says the allies need to make sure the Ukrainians have everything they need to continue the fight and defend not just the frontlines, but its cities and civilians.

Asked about his wishlist, Zelenskyy says he needs more help with energy infrastructure, more missiles, and references a path to the membership of the EU, too.

Zelenskyy says the key focus in peace talks is on making sure so that “in four years, the civilised world is not forced to justify itself again, to shift the responsibility, and not forced again to look for someone else to blame” for another war.

He says “Ukraine is ready for a deal that brings real peace to us, Ukraine and Europe.”

And we go into the Q&A.

'Illusion' to think dividing Ukraine could prevent further war, Zelenskyy warns, drawing comparisons to 1938 Munich agreement

Zelenskyy turns to next week’s talks in Geneva.

He says he hopes they will be “serious, substantive, helpful,” but adds that “sometimes it feels like the sides are talking about completely different things.”

He says that the Russians “often speak about some spirit of Anchorage, and we can only guess what they really mean” – a reference to Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska – while “the Americans often return to the topic of concessions, too often discussed in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”

He also says that Europe is “practically not” present at the table, and it should be. “It’s a big mistake,” he says.

He warns that Russia’s Vladimir Putin’s actions remind him of the 1938 Munich Agreement, “when previous Putin began dividing Europe.”

“It would be an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine, just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a great war,” he says.

'We can stand up to Russia,' Zelenskyy urges leaders

Zelenskyy also calls out former officials and politicians who are now trying to shift responsibility for not acting to prevent the war.

He stresses that “we can stand up to Russia,” bringing up the example of a Ukrainian athlete disqualified from the Olympics for planning to wear a helmet showing the face of Ukrainian athletes killed in the war.

He repeats that Russia “must not be given any hope it can get away with this crime.”

He says Moscow was most serious about negotiations when Ukraine when it was hit by Ukrainian deep strikes inside its territory.

“The stronger we are, the more realistic peace becomes,” he says.

Zelenskyy says that Ukraine tried everything to prevent the war, but he didn’t get any serious help from the previous US administration to counter the Russian aggression.

“But the most practical advice General [Mark] Milley could give Ukraine at that time was simply dig trenches, and that is the answer my commander in chief brought back.

Just imagine, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops on your borders, massive military equipment, and all you hear is: dig trenches.

So if Russian troops enter Lithuania, God bless, just [as an] example, if or another country on Nato’ss eastern flank, what will the Allies hear then? Will they hear that help is on the way?

Hope so.”

But he says Europe needs to have its own ability to respond to any threat to send a clear signal as he backs call for more defence investment.

He also says that Ukraine has “the strongest army in Europe,” and “that’s why Europe needs Ukraine.”

“I think it’s simply not smart to keep this army outside Nato,” he says, “but at least let that be your decision, not Putin’s decision.”

'None of our people chose to be heroes,' Zelenskyy says

In a moving tribute to ordinary Ukrainians, Zelenskyy says “none of our people chose to be such heroes” as they worry about the war.

But he warns that Putin “is no longer interested in anything else” than the war, as “he cannot imagine life without power or after power.”

“Putin consults more with Tsar Peter and Empress Catherine about territorial gains than with any living person about real life. Can you imagine Putin without war?,” he asks.

He warns that Putin “may see himself as a tsar, but he is a slave to this war,” which is why Ukraine needs strong security guarantees.

The guarantees should answer the main question “how long there will be no war again,” as he says he hopes Trump and the US Congress hear that point clearly.

Russia loses 156 soldiers per kilometer of Ukraine, Zelenskyy says, as he takes swipe at Hungary's Orbán

Zelenskyy says that in both December and January, Ukrainian forces killed and badly wounded more than 30,000 to 35,000 Russian troops.

He says that at the moment, Russia pays with lives of 156 soldiers for every kilometer of Ukraine it secures.

“Putin is not concerned about this now, but there is a level at which he will start to care,” he says.

He says Ukraine aims to get to 50,000 kills a month to raise the price of continuing the war.

He says that Ukrainians are key to stop Russian aggression as they secure free and independent Poland, the Baltics, Moldova, and Romania.

In an angry swipe at Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, with whom he’s been publicly clashing in recent weeks, he says:

“Even one Viktor can think about how to grow his belly, not how to grow his army to stop Russian tanks from returning to the streets of Budapest.”

'Our unity is best interceptor against Russia's aggressive plans,' Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy goes back to drones, saying Ukraine has “more experience than anyone in the world” on how to defend about them.

He says:

“That is why while we invest in interceptors and protection, Russia invests in breaking unity between all of us, our unity with you, unity in Europe, unity in the Euro-Atlantic community, they want to break it.

Why? Because our unity is the best interceptor against Russia’s aggressive plans – the best one – and we still have it.”

He names several countries, thanking them for their help: Denmark, Germany, Czechia, the Nordics, the UK, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, the US, Canada, Turkey and Japan.

But he says Russia also has its “accomplices”, including North Korea and Chinese companies that provide components for Russian weapons and missiles.

He also talks about the importance of stopping the Russian shadow fleet to further cut Moscow off funding for its war.

Iranian regime 'must be stopped immediately,' Zelenskyy says

Zelenskyy turns to the situation in Iran, as he picks up on demonstrations in Munich calling for a change of regime there (covered on the blog yesterday).

He says that Ukraine has no border with Iran or conflict with the Iranian regime, but points out that they continue to sell drones to Russia that kill Ukrainians.

“The Iranian regime has already done and can still do more harm than many other regimes could do in the century. … When they have time, they only kill more. They must be stopped immediately,” he says.