The US Vice President, JD Vance, said Friday that Washington could exercise economic and military leverage in conversations with Russia to guarantee a good peace agreement on Ukraine, but his spokesman later denied that he was doing any threat against Moscow .
Vance also urged Europe to spend more in defense in comments before arriving at the Munich Security Conference, an important annual meeting of political leaders, military and diplomatic officers.
In his opening speech to the conference, Vance criticized the European Union for his regulation of hate discourse and erroneous information, which he was equivalent to censorship.
He only briefly refer Ukraine, saying that he hoped that he could reach a “reasonable agreement.”
However, Ukraine, and the prospects for peace conversations, worried many at the global high -profile meeting after Donald Trump surprised the American allies by calling the Russian president Vladimir Putin and announce the beginning of the conversations to end To war in Ukraine.
Vance, who had to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later on Friday, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal Before the conference, Trump could use several tools, economic and military, for leverage with Putin.
Vance’s spokesman, William Martin, said later in X that Vance “did not have any threat.” He simply declared the fact that no one will take the options to President Trump as these negotiations begin. “
Martin published what he said was a transcription of the interview, according to which Vance was asked what threat and implicit pressure that Washington was considering towards Putin. He said that Vance replied that “the range of options is extremely broad, and that there are economic leverage tools. Of course, military leverage tools [too]. “
Vance did not mention any of this in his speech to the conference, but focused on criticizing the EU policy of 27 nations towards hate speech.
“The threat that most worries me about seeing Europe is not Russia, it is not China, it is not any other external actor,” he said, adding that it was what he called a retreat from the fundamental values of protecting freedom of expression, so Like immigration, which said it was “out of control” in Europe.
TO Reuters The journalist in one of the side rooms where they could listen to Vance more delegates said that people looked in stunned silence, without applause.
Germany Defense Minister Boris Pistorius pronounced Vance’s speech, describing it unacceptable.
“The American vice president throughout Europe questioned democracy for all of Europe,” Pistorius said from the main stage of the conference. “He talks about the annihilation of democracy.
“And if I have understood correctly, it is comparing conditions in parts of Europe with those of the authoritarian regions … that is not acceptable.”
European fear of the exclusion of Ukraine Deal
The Kremlin had said the earlier Friday that he expected the United States to clarify Vance’s comments to the Wall Street Journal. “We have not heard such formulations before,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, journalists.
The United States Secretary of the United States, Scott Besent, echoed Vance’s comments. “As with tariffs, it will depend on how President Putin goes to the table,” he said Fox Business Network.
“If we believe that taking the sanctions regime at a maximum threshold level will help us achieve the leverage of the negotiation, and as they know, nobody understands the negotiation of leverage better than President Trump, so it will be his decision, and the Treasury will implement it.
Trump’s phone call with Putin fueled the fears among European governments that they could be frozen outside a settlement to end the Ukraine War that could end up being too favorable for Russia and undermine European security in general.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, reiterated those concerns on Friday. “A simulated peace, on the heads of the Ukrainians and Europeans, would not win anything,” he said. “A simulated peace would not bring lasting security, or for people in Ukraine or for us in Europe or the United States.”
Germany Defense Minister said it was a mistake for Trump to get the negotiation chips from the table, namely, the desire for Ukraine of the NATO membership and its goal of recovering all the territories taken by the Russian forces since 2014 .
Russia now has about 20 percent of Ukraine almost three years after launching a large -scale invasion, saying that kyiv’s search for NATO membership raised an existential threat. Ukraine and the West call the action of Russia as a hoarding of imperialist lands.
Pressure on Europe
Vance also repeated Trump’s demand for Europe to make more to safeguard his own defense so that Washington can focus on other regions, particularly on the Indo-Pacific.
“In the future, we believe that Europe will have to assume a more important role in its own security,” said German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
NATO general secretary, Mark Rutte, said that Vance had “all reason” about the need for Europe to “ride” and do more for his own defense. “We have to grow in that regard and spend much more,” Routte said.
At the conference, several European leaders echoed their comments, saying that Europe would intensify their defense expense, but also needed to discuss a gradual elimination of their support with Washington.
As a senator, Vance expressed blunt skepticism about the support of the United States to Ukraine. Speaking in a podcast in 2022, he said: “I really don’t care what happens in Ukraine in one way or another.”
Saudi Arabia welcomes the Putin-Trump meeting
Separately, Saudi Arabia said he praised the phone call between Trump and Putin, welcoming the idea of his meeting in the kingdom.
Peskov said he could have been organizing a meeting between Putin and Trump for several months, possibly in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The Saudi heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman was the first foreign leader Trump called after assuming the position. He described the heir prince as “a fantastic guy” during his speech through a video link to an audience in the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Putin, who visited Saudi Arabia and the EAU in 2023, said last September that he was grateful to Mohammed Bin Salman for helping to organize the greatest exchange of prisoners in the United States and Russia since the Cold War.
Russian drone hits Chernobyl cover
Today early, Zelensky said a Russian drone had hit the roof built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and added that radiation levels were normal.
The Ukraine Air Force said Russia had launched 133 drones throughout the country during the night, including attack drones, aimed at regions of the north of the country where the Chernobyl energy plant is located.
“Last night, an unmanned plane of Russian attack with a high explosive head hit the cover that protected the world of radiation in the destruction of the 4th power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear energy plant,” Zelensky said in a position In social networks.
The attack is evidence that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, “is definitely not being prepared for negotiations: he is preparing to continue deceiving the world,” Zelensky said.
The CCTV images published by the Ukrainian leader showed an explosion on the side of the Chernobyl structure in images that were trafficked at 02:02 am.
The Kremlin rejected that its army attacked Ukrainian nuclear structures.
“It is not any strike in such nuclear infrastructure sites. Any statement that this was the case does not correspond to reality. The Russian army does not do this, “said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov today, after declaring that he had no” exact information “about the success informed in Chernobyl.
Zelensky’s video also showed a small fire and a hole in the roof, and firefighters who wear a hose to turn off the fire from inside the dome. He said the drone had flown at an altitude of 85 meters, too low to be detected by radar.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) also reported an “explosion” on the site and said that “radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable.”
The agency, which has had a team deployed in Chernobyl from the early stages of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, published images that show the drone on fire after colliding against coverage.
The OIEA has repeatedly warned about the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants after the large -scale military offensive of Russia in Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia responded by calling Zelensky’s accusation a “kyiv staging” staging to blackmail to the West to give him more help.
Maria Zakharova, spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accused Zelensky of orchestrating the alleged drone attack to coincide with the Munich event as part of a lobbying effort to ensure more weapons and money from the west.
“There was never any doubt that Zelenskiy would not come to Munich’s conference empty. The hands of the kyiv regime must always be busy with the rattle of some children to distract the attention of the conference participants.
“Zelensky travels with actions backed by provocations,” Zakharova told a news conference in Moscow. “Is there any doubt in someone’s mind that this is a provocation? There can be no doubt. A performance was needed to press for arms deliveries and convince the world public. A terrifying, bloody and very dangerous performance, “he said, accusing kyiv of using nuclear plants for” blackmail. “
In the first days of the conflict, the Russian forces briefly took the Chernobyl plant and also captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which still controls.
In 1986, a reactor in Chernobyl exploded during a failed security test, which resulted in the worst nuclear accident in the world that sent radiation clouds in much of Europe and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate.
The Soviet authorities initially tried to cover up and then knock down the disaster.
In November 2016, a massive metal dome was erected on the remains of the reactor, paid with € 2.1 billion euros ($ 2.5 billion) in international funds, to stop future leaks.
“The only country in the world that attacks such sites, occupies nuclear power plants and the war releases without taking into account the consequences is today’s Russia,” Zelensky added in his statement.
Meanwhile, the Ukraine Ministry of Energy “asked the OIE to intensify efforts to avoid hostile attacks against nuclear facilities.”
Russian drones and missile attacks in energy facilities throughout the conflict have paralyzed the Ukrainian electricity generation capacity and forced routine and generalized energy cuts.
