Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to meet with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich later today, with the ongoing war likely to dominate discussions at a significant security conference attended by world leaders.
Zelensky is also scheduled to hold talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
This follows US President Donald Trump’s unexpected announcement earlier this week that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed during a phone call to initiate discussions aimed at ending the conflict.
On Thursday, Trump indicated that Russian representatives might attend the Munich conference and potentially meet with US and Ukrainian officials. However, a senior Ukrainian official clarified that no talks with Russia are currently anticipated.
“Russia is going to be there with our people,” the US president said in comments made to the reporters.
“Ukraine is also invited, by the way, not sure exactly who’s going to be there from any country – but high-level people from Russia, from Ukraine and from the United States.”
However, Zelensky adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told reporters the Ukrainian delegation had no plans to attend such a meeting.
Russia did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment on the issue.
Trump’s announcement came a day after he held separate phone calls first with Putin, then with Zelensky.
Describing the talks as “great”, Trump said there was a “good possibility of ending that horrible, very bloody war”.
But he said it was not “practical” for Kyiv to join the Nato military alliance and also “unlikely” that Ukraine could return to its pre-invasion borders in 2014.
Zelensky – who admitted it was “not very pleasing” that Trump had spoken to Putin before him – warned that Ukraine would not agree to any peace deal proposed by the US and Russia without Kyiv’s involvement.
“We cannot accept it, as an independent country,” he said, stressing that his priority was “security guarantees”, something he did not see without US support.
Zelensky said European allies “needed to be at the negotiating table too”, amid growing fears across the continent that Trump’s overture to Putin could lead to a separate US-Russia deal on Ukraine’s and Europe’s future.
French President Emmanuel Macron told the Financial Times that only Zelensky could negotiate on behalf of his country with Russia, warning a “peace that is a capitulation” would be “bad news for everyone”.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said: “Any quick fix is a dirty deal.”
In Munich, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s objective in his meeting with Vice President JD Vance is clear: to urge continued US support for Ukraine and to ensure the nation’s interests are prioritized in efforts to negotiate an end to the war.
What the US hopes to achieve from the meeting is less certain. Vance may seek to reassure Zelensky that Ukraine will have a role in the upcoming peace talks, although recent indications suggest it may be a subordinate one.
Vance could also deliver a blunt message, echoing comments made publicly by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Monday, despite later attempts to soften them. The US does not foresee Ukraine joining NATO, and to secure peace, Ukraine may have to relinquish territory currently under Russian control.
This prospect will likely be difficult for Zelensky to accept, particularly as additional US military aid—essential for Ukraine to sustain its defense—appears increasingly unlikely. Support for Ukraine has waned within both President Donald Trump’s administration and the Republican-controlled Congress.
The conflict has its roots in the 2014 overthrow of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president, which led Moscow to annex Crimea and back pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The situation escalated into full-scale war nearly three years ago when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
While Russia’s attempt to capture Kyiv was thwarted, its forces have seized about 20% of Ukraine’s territory in the east and south and have conducted airstrikes across the nation. In response, Ukraine has launched artillery and drone strikes, as well as ground offensives into Russia’s western Kursk region.
Casualty figures remain uncertain due to the secrecy maintained by both sides, but estimates suggest that hundreds of thousands of people—primarily soldiers—have been killed or injured, while millions of Ukrainian civilians have fled as refugees.