The Vice President of the US, JD Vance, and the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, pledged on Friday to continue working towards ending the war in Ukraine with a lasting peace that prevents a recurrence of the conflict. This was the first meeting between the two leaders since the arrival of President Donald Trump's administration.
"Fundamentally, the goal is, as President Trump defined it, to end the war. We want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a resilient, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that allows for conflict in Western Europe again in a few years," Vance stated after the meeting.
The meeting took place at the Munich Security Conference and also included the participation of Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump's special representative for the war in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg. Zelensky described the meeting as "positive" and expressed that they are ready to move towards a real and guaranteed peace.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, from Warsaw, mentioned the possibility of a ceasefire as a good faith signal to advance negotiations. In turn, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte expressed the importance of working together to achieve lasting peace in Ukraine.
At the Munich Conference, words were also heard from German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who emphasized the need for US-led negotiations to include Ukraine and the EU. For his part, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares underscored the importance of considering the voice of Europeans in any solution for Ukraine.
In a scenario where there is a desire to avoid a "failed" Ukraine that weakens both the EU and the US, the cooperation between European and American powers to achieve lasting peace in the region is highlighted.
