Ukrainian representatives are “also invited,” the US leader added
President Donald Trump has announced that “high-level” US representatives will meet their Russian counterparts at the Munich Security Conference on Friday to discuss a resolution to the Ukraine conflict.
President Vladimir Putin and his US counterpart spoke for nearly 90 minutes by phone on Wednesday, marking the first known direct interaction between the Russian and US heads of state since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. On Thursday, Trump said the phone call paved the way for further direct contacts between American and Russian officials.
“They’re having a meeting in Munich tomorrow. Russia is going to be there with our people,” Trump told journalists at the White House on Thursday.
Trump added that “Ukraine is also invited, by the way,” but did not specify the format of the meeting or clarify whether it would be a three-way dialogue or a series of bilateral talks.
“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,” the US leader added.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Thursday that the fact that both presidents had expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue was a “very important achievement” that has “set in motion an apparatus of aides, ministries and so on, that will now gradually begin dialogue and prepare the next contacts.”
“Now that the leaders have demonstrated political will and provided their aides with the necessary instructions to initiate communication, we ask for a bit of patience. These discussions need time to gain momentum,” Peskov said.
The Munich Security Conference is taking place from February 14 to 16 in Munich, Germany. US Vice President J.D. Vance will lead the American delegation at the MSC, where he is expected to meet with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the conference is an opportunity for American officials to “lay out a broad path forward” on Ukraine. Meanwhile, US presidential envoy for the Ukraine conflict Keith Kellogg is reportedly expected to make it clear that the US has no intention of deploying troops to protect Ukraine and wants European NATO allies to increase their defense spending.
Russian officials have not attended the Munich Conference since 2022, and Moscow has yet to confirm its participation this year or announce the composition of its delegation.
