Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Vladimir Putin as a “slave to war” while seeking security guarantees for Ukraine.
“He may see himself as a tsar but in reality he is a slave to war,” the Ukrainian president told the Munich Security Conference, referring to the Russian leader.
Zelensky acknowledged he was feeling “a little bit” of pressure from Donald Trump after the US president told Ukraine’s leader not to miss the opportunity to make peace and urged him “to get moving”.
He complained that the US too often asked Kyiv rather than Russia for concessions while renewing his call for 20-year security guarantees.
“The Americans often return to the topic of concessions and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia,” Zelensky said.
He confirmed the US had proposed 15-year security guarantees, although Ukraine wanted at least 20 years.
Earlier at the conference, Britain accused Russia of killing opposition leader Alexei Navalny with a poison developed from a dart frog toxin.
Moscow, however, denounced the allegation as a Western “disinformation campaign” against it.
Rubio begins European trip, to meet Hungary’s Orban amid ties with Moscow
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has begun a two-day visit to central Europe, aimed at bolstering ties with Slovakia and Hungary, including a planned meeting with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban.
Rubio’s trip comes after his participation in the Munich Security Conference, and the State Department says he will discuss energy cooperation, NATO commitments and bilateral relations. In Bratislava on Sunday he is due to meet Slovak prime minister Robert Fico, who visited Donald Trump in Florida last month.
Tomorrow, Rubio is expected to meet Orban, a close ally of Trump who is currently trailing in polls ahead of Hungary’s April election.
“These are countries that are very strong with us, very cooperative with the United States, work very closely with us, and it’s a good opportunity to go see them and two countries I’ve never been in,” Rubio told reporters before departing for Europe on Thursday.
Both Fico and Orban have frequently clashed with EU institutions over democratic standards and have maintained ties with Moscow. They have criticised or delayed EU sanctions on Russia and opposed sending military aid to Ukraine. Slovakia and Hungary have also continued to buy Russian gas and oil, even as other EU countries secure alternative supplies.
Rubio did not outline specific energy discussions but said cooperation with European partners was a priority. His visit highlights ongoing US efforts to keep EU allies aligned amid diverging approaches to Russia, defence spending and broader transatlantic relations.
Russian official says Ukrainian drones damaged Taman port
Russia’s Taman port was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack, the governor of the Krasnodar region said on Sunday.
Veniamin Kondratyev said the strike sparked a fire at the port. He did not provide details on the extent of the damage.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
Taman port lies in southern Russia near the Kerch Strait, a key route for shipping and energy exports.
Russia says Navalny poison claims are ‘disinformation campaign’ against Moscow
The Kremlin has hit back at claims from the UK and other allies that opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed with dart frog poison while serving time in a Russian prison in 2024.
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian foreign ministry, told the TASS news agency that the allegations “are a disinformation campaign by the West”.
“There will be results of the analyses, there will be formulas of the substances – there will be a commentary. Without this, all the talks and statements are an information campaign aimed at diverting attention from the pressing problems of the West,” she said.
The Russian Embassy in the UK said: “This isn’t a quest for justice, but a mockery of the dead. Even after the death of a Russian citizen, London and European capitals cannot give him peace, which speaks volumes about the instigators of this campaign.”
Zelensky calls Putin ‘slave to war’ as he urges unity in Munich
Volodymyr Zelensky denounced Vladimir Putin as a “slave to war”, telling the Munich Security Conference that Russia’s leader saw himself as a tsar but was driven entirely by conflict.
“He may see himself as a tsar, but in reality he is a slave to war,” the Ukrainian president said, days before the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Zelensky said Russia’s attacks had damaged every power plant in Ukraine. “There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks. Not one,” he said. “But we still generate electricity.”
Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately targeting energy infrastructure to leave civilians without heat and power during winter. Zelensky again urged partners to speed up deliveries of air defence systems.
He also warned against pressuring Ukraine into territorial concessions ahead of fresh US-brokered talks next week. Drawing a parallel with the 1938 Munich Agreement, he said it would be “an illusion to believe that this war can now be reliably ended by dividing Ukraine”.
“With Russia, you cannot leave a single loophole Russians can use to start a war,” he said, insisting that any settlement must include firm security guarantees.
Protests, poisoning and prison: The life of Alexei Navalny and his opposition to Vladimir Putin
Drone strikes kill civilians in Ukraine and Russia ahead of Geneva talks
Drone strikes killed at least one person in Ukraine and one in Russia yesterday, officials said, as the two sides prepared for another round of talks in Geneva on Tuesday aimed at ending the war.
An elderly woman died after a Russian drone struck a residential building in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, Ukraine’s state emergency service said.
In Russia, a civilian was killed when a Ukrainian drone hit a car in the Bryansk border region, governor Alexander Bogomaz said.
Russia-backed authorities in the partially occupied Luhansk region said a Ukrainian airstrike wounded 15 people in a village there.
The exchanges followed a Ukrainian missile strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod on Friday that killed two people and injured five, according to regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov.
Zelensky warns of ‘big risks’ in proposed security zone
Volodymyr Zelensky has questioned how proposals for a free economic or security zone in Ukraine would work in practice, warning of serious risks if Russia were to test any foreign presence on the ground.
The Ukrainian president told the Associated Press in Munich that if foreign troops were deployed to patrol such a zone and Vladimir Putin chose to provoke them, their withdrawal could open the door to a “big occupation” and heavy losses.
“If Putin is given any opportunity for victory we don’t know what he will do next,” Zelensky said.
He described the model as carrying “big risks” both for Ukraine and for any country that agreed to guarantee its security, though he said he was prepared to discuss it as a potential compromise in exchange for support to rebuild the country.
Zelensky also said Moscow would have to accept monitoring of any ceasefire and return about 7,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for more than 4,000 Russian prisoners held by Ukraine.
Zelensky says Russia’s negotiator swap could delay Geneva talks
Russia’s decision to replace the head of its negotiating team ahead of the next round of US-brokered talks could be aimed at delaying progress, Volodymyr Zelensky said..
The Ukrainian president said he was surprised by Moscow’s move before the upcoming negotiations in Geneva.
He also said Russian opposition to any foreign troop presence in Ukraine indicated Vladimir Putin wanted to retain the option of attacking again in future.
During negotiations, Russian officials have insisted that Ukraine give up more territory in the east to end the war. Zelensky rejected that demand, calling it “a little bit crazy” to suggest Ukraine withdraw from its own land or exchange it.
Thousands of Ukrainians have been killed defending the Donbas region, he said, noting that around 200,000 people still live there and it would not be acceptable to effectively hand them over to Russia.
Source: independent.co.uk