About the future Ukraine European leaders will talk on Monday in Paris, Doc USA and Russia they are apparently organizing a meeting in Riyadh, about which little is known so far, he reminds Deutsche says.
At the conference in Paris, European leaders want to define common positions on the situation in Ukraine and security in Europe. The focus is on the newly emerging transatlantic relations with the USA under Donald Trump and the position towards the peace negotiations - planned by the USA and Russia, to begin with, without the direct participation of European leaders.
The cabinet of French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Sunday that the prime ministers of Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark, who will represent the Baltic and Scandinavian countries - and Great Britain - will participate in the "informal meeting" in addition to the host.
The meeting will also be attended by Antonio Košta, who chairs the European Council and represents 27 EU members, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has already confirmed his arrival in Paris.
Shock at the Munich Security Conference
The plan to hold such an emergency meeting arose after US President Donald Trump surprised European leaders by calling Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday (February 12.02) and announcing that negotiations to end the war in Ukraine would begin immediately - without prior consultation with them or Kiev. Saudi Arabia was mentioned as the place of peace negotiations.
That's why all eyes were on Munich. Because the Munich Security Conference could have been the ideal place to present and jointly elaborate plans on how the war in Ukraine will continue and what the future of transatlantic relations is. The expectations of the Europeans were high. That is why the shock post festum was great.
Not only did US Vice President J.D. Vance barely mention Ukraine in his speech, but he used his performance to harshly criticize Europeans for their lack of democracy. Defense Minister Pete Hegseth did not even come to Munich, having previously assessed that Ukraine's membership in NATO was unrealistic.
Very pleasant for European leaders was the statement of Trump's envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, who said on Saturday that Europe will not be directly involved in the negotiations, although it will have an "influence". Asked at the Munich conference whether the Europeans would be at the negotiating table, Kellogg replied: "Realistically, I don't think that's going to happen."
Other American Republicans expressed similar views on stage in Munich, while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not speak at all. Ali called his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov on the phone on Saturday, and, as he later said, talked to him for the first time in his life.
Removal of "unilateral obstacles" in US-Russia relations
During the talks, which according to Moscow was initiated by the American side, the two heads of diplomacy agreed to remove "unilateral obstacles" in the bilateral relations of their countries that were set by the previous American administration, Reuters reports a statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, an important topic of discussion was the peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Rubio, who is currently in Israel, told CBS on Sunday that the coming days will show whether Russian President Vladimir Putin is really serious about peace in Ukraine. Regarding a possible breakthrough on ending the war in Ukraine at the upcoming negotiations with Russian officials, he said:
"The process towards peace is not something that is solved in one meeting. Nothing has been finalized yet," emphasizing that the goal is to find space for a broader discussion "that would include Ukraine and lead to an end to the war."
There are no details on the meeting in Saudi Arabia
The US secretary of state will travel from Israel to Saudi Arabia, where he plans to meet with Russian representatives, along with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
Who will make up the Russian delegation and when exactly the meeting will be held, Rubio did not tell CBS. Special Envoy Witkoff didn't give concrete information either, only expressing his hope to achieve "some really good progress on Russia and Ukraine."
A delegation from Ukraine is currently staying in Saudi Arabia, and according to the Ukrainian Minister of Economy Yulia Sviridenko, the purpose of the visit is to prepare for the possible arrival of President Volodymyr Zelensky. She did not specify whether such a visit would be related to the peace talks on Ukraine, which were announced by the US, nor when it could take place.
And Macron said on Sunday that he spoke by phone with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the role of Saudi Arabia in the eventual peace agreement for Ukraine and stressed that Europe should play a key role in that process.
Reuters: The US sent its European allies a catalog of questions regarding Ukraine
The United States has submitted a questionnaire to its European allies regarding security agreements concerning Ukraine. This comes from a document seen by the Reuters agency.
It asks European partners, among other things, "What requirements for US support, if any, would your government consider necessary to participate in these security agreements?"
The document also asks EU members which countries could contribute to guaranteeing a peace deal, which countries would be willing to send troops to Ukraine as part of a peace deal and what the size of a potential European-led force would be.
A European army in Ukraine?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said again on Saturday that there must be no "decision on Ukraine without Ukraine" nor "on Europe without Europe". He called for the creation of a European army, arguing that the continent can no longer count on Washington.
British Prime Minister Starmer said on Sunday night that he is ready to send the UK army to Ukraine to guarantee peace as part of a peace deal.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski rejected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's request to form a European army in response to threats from Russia. He emphasized that sending Polish troops to Ukraine is not an option, because Poland's task within NATO is to protect the eastern wing of the Alliance, and therefore its own territory.
"One should be careful with the term European army, because it can be interpreted differently," Sikorski said in a television interview. He added that there will be no unification of national armies, but that he supports the development of the EU's defense capacities, which would mean EU subsidies for the military industry in order to increase production capacities, "but also European armed forces that deserve the name".
