Earlier in the day European leaders claimed to have won US assurances that Ukraine’s leadership would be fully consulted over any peace talks with Russia and that the sovereignty of Ukraine would be protected, as they sought to ease fears that Trump was on the brink of abandoning Kyiv.
Shortly after Trump unexpectedly announced that he had already spoken to Putin for more than an hour and would begin peace talks, Hegseth also said no US troops would contribute to any European peacekeeping force in Ukraine in the event of an agreed ceasefire.
European leaders were furious this week when the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, ruled out Ukraine ever joining Nato and said the country would have to abandon most of its territory occupied by Russia.
A strong show of European unity in support of Ukraine at the Munich conference, coupled with private assurances from key figures in the Trump administration that decisions were not imminent, went some way towards dampening intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said during a meeting with the US vice-president, JD Vance, that his country wants “security guarantees” and a joint US-Ukrainian peace plan before he enters into any talks with Vladimir Putin to end the war in his country.
