Rubio tones down his rhetoric against Europe but sets conditions

Relief washed over the Munich Security Conference after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared that, despite criticism and threats from the Trump administration, Washington wants to remain an ally of Europe. In his highly anticipated speech, Rubio emphasized the close ties between the United States and Europe: "We are destined to be together." "Our destiny is and always will be intertwined with yours, because we know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own national security," the US top diplomat stated at the world's most important annual forum on international security and defense policy. "That's why we Americans can sometimes seem a bit blunt and urgent in our advice... The reason, my friends, is that we care deeply," Rubio said. The tone of Marco Rubio's speech contrasts sharply with the controversial remarks made a year ago in Munich by JD Vance, in which he harshly criticized Europe for being overly dependent on US support. Vance's speech, in which he questioned the state of democracy and freedom of expression in Europe and offered veiled support for the far right, sparked outrage among European leaders and highlighted the rift between the United States and Europe following Donald Trump's return to the White House. Rubio, on the other hand, received applause from the audience at the Munich Security Conference for emphasizing the importance of ensuring a strong alliance between the United States and Europe. However, despite the more conciliatory tone, the US Secretary of State insisted on the need for Europeans to take greater responsibility for defending themselves against threats instead of relying so heavily on US aid. The Secretary of State asserted that "the United States wants to see a strong Europe." "We want allies who can defend themselves, so that no adversary is tempted to challenge our collective strength," he insisted. There was also room for criticism in his speech. Rubio has warned about the effects of "mass immigration" and "deindustrialization" in the West, phenomena against which he has encouraged Europeans to act together to strengthen the transatlantic alliance. Regarding the peace talks for Ukraine initiated by US President Donald Trump, Rubio stated that he does not know if Moscow is seriously negotiating to end the conflict, but asserted that Washington must continue to test Russian President Vladimir Putin's willingness to negotiate. Zelensky, skeptical of Putin

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, hopes that the negotiations taking place next week in Geneva between Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington will be "serious, substantive, and useful." However, Zelensky noted in Munich that "sometimes it seems the parties are talking about completely different things." "The Russians often speak of a certain Anchorage spirit, and we can only guess what they really mean," Zelensky said, referring to the meeting between Trump and Putin that took place in Alaska in August 2015 without the Ukrainians present. "The Americans often return to the issue of concessions, which are discussed far too often in the context of Ukraine and not Russia," added the Ukrainian president, who lamented that Europe is "virtually" absent from the negotiating table when it should be. "It's a huge mistake," the Ukrainian leader declared during his address at the Munich Security Conference. Zelenskyy said that Putin fancies himself a Russian tsar, but in reality, he is "a slave to war." "He cannot live without war. If he lives another ten years, war could return or expand," he warned Europeans and Americans. The Ukrainian president said Russia's actions remind him of the 1938 Munich Agreement, "when the previous Putin began to divide Europe." "It would be an illusion to believe that this war can reliably end now by dividing Ukraine, just as it was an illusion to believe that sacrificing Czechoslovakia would save Europe from a major war," Zelenskyy maintained. "That is why we need real security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe" before the war ends, he demanded.

The Ukrainian president has said that, although Ukraine wants peace, they do not see "concessions from Russia": "We want to hear something from them." "We believe that an agreement on security guarantees must precede any agreement to end the war. These guarantees answer the main question: how long will it be before there is war again? We hope that President Trump, Congress, and the American people will listen to us, and we appreciate all the real help they have given us. Thank you," he stated.

Regarding the possibility of holding new presidential elections in Ukraine before the end of the year, as proposed by the Trump administration, Zelenskyy noted that elections cannot be held in the midst of a war and considered that Ukraine would need "two months" of ceasefire and security guarantees.