Zelensky says visiting Türkiye soon

MUNICH

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he would soon travel to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye, but that he had no plans at the moment to meet with Russian or U.S. officials.

"I will not meet with Russians but then I will not meet with Americans there," he said of the visits. President Donald Trump said this week he expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks.

 Zelensky is set to meet U.S. Vice President JD Vance in Germany on Friday with a warning against trusting Russia's Vladimir Putin, as concerns mount in Kiev and among its European allies that the Ukraine war will be settled over their heads.

The Munich Security Conference starts days after U.S. President Donald Trump and Putin held watershed talks that have shaken Ukraine and America's NATO allies, almost three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Trump said he had agreed with Putin to soon start Ukraine peace talks and exchange friendly visits. The new U.S. administration also signalled Ukraine would have to give up territory to Russia and that NATO membership for Kiev was "impractical".

Vance, ahead of his speech in Munich on Friday, sought to dampen European fears and said "the president is not going to go in this with blinders on," in comments to the Wall Street Journal.

"He's going to say, 'Everything is on the table, let's make a deal,'" Vance added, stressing that there are economic and even "military tools of leverage."

Vance said it was too early to say how much of Ukraine's territory would remain in Russian hands or what security guarantees the United States and other Western allies could offer Kiev.

"There are any number of formulations, of configurations, but we do care about Ukraine having sovereign independence," he said.

Zelensky on Thursday warned world leaders "against trusting Putin's claims of readiness to end the war" and said he wanted the United States to agree a "plan to stop Putin" before any negotiations.

  European concern 

EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas warned Thursday that "any deal behind our backs will not work" and that "appeasement also always fails".

Kiev's European backers fear Trump could force Ukraine into a bad peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened Putin on their doorstep — while paying the lion's share of costs for post-war security.

Among the European leaders, diplomats and generals in Munich, many hold grave concerns over the deepening chasm between the transatlantic allies and even for the post-World War II international order itself.

European allies were stunned to be bluntly informed this week that the future task of helping secure Ukraine would fall to them alone, in line with Trump's "America First" stance.

The head of the Munich conference, Christoph Heusgen, told German radio on Friday that "I suspect that today the American Vice President will announce that a large part of the American troops will be withdrawn from Europe".

Timothy Garton Ash, a professor of European studies at Oxford, wrote that America's "message to Europe was pretty stark on Ukraine — it's your problem. We will help cut a deal with Russia — but policing that is up to you.

"That is surely a green light for Putin to test that defense in Ukraine, meaning that Ukraine and Europe will hardly be secure as a result of a peace agreed by Trump."

  'Just peace' 

Zelensky, despite facing the prospect of having Ukraine's key demands ignored after years of gruelling war, has pushed back with moderate language.

He said it was "not very pleasant" that Trump had called Putin first before speaking to him, while again insisting he wanted to hammer out a "plan to stop Putin" with the United States before any talks happen.

Zelensky was expected to redouble his efforts for more help from Europe to reach a "just peace".

Aside from Vance, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also finally headed to Europe on Friday after his plane was forced to turn around due to a mechanical issue.

Trump said Thursday that "high-level people" from Moscow, Kiev and Washington would meet in Munich on Friday — but the Ukrainian presidency said it did not expect to take part in talks with Russian officials and that "for the moment there is nothing on the table".

Heusgen told German radio that no high-ranking Russian government officials had been accredited but did not rule out that there may be possible meetings outside the security conference.

Security was tight at the annual meeting in the Bavarian state capital, with police on heightened alert a day after a car-ramming attack injured 30 people, with an Afghan asylum seeker arrested at the scene.

Russia hits Chernobyl

 Zelensky also said Friday that a Russian drone had struck a cover built to contain radiation at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, adding that radiation levels were normal.

The Ukrainian air force said that Russia had launched 133 drones across the country overnight — including attack drones — targeting northern regions of the country where the Chernobyl power plant lies.

"Last night, a Russian attack drone with a high-explosive warhead struck the cover protecting the world from radiation at the destroyed 4th power unit of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant," Zelensky said in a social media post.

The attack is evidence that Russian President Vladimir "Putin is definitely not preparing for negotiations — he is preparing to continue deceiving the world", Zelensky said.

CCTV footage posted by the Ukrainian leader showed a blast on the side of the Chernobyl structure in footage that was timestamped 02:02 am (0002 GMT).

The Kremlin rejected that its army targeted Ukrainian nuclear structures.

"There is no question of any strikes on such nuclear infrastructure sites. Any claims that this was the case do not correspond to reality. The Russian military does not do this," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday, after stating that he did not have "exact information" about the reported hit on Chernobyl.

Zelensky's video also showed a small fire and hole in the roof, and firefighters using a hose to put out the blaze from the inside of the dome.

He said the drone had flown at an altitude of 85 metres (yards), too low to be detected by radar.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also reported an "explosion" at the site, and said "radiation levels inside and outside remain normal and stable."

The agency, which has had a team deployed at Chernobyl since the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, published images apparently showing the drone on fire after crashing into the covering.

The IAEA has repeatedly warned of the dangers of fighting around nuclear plants following Russia's full-scale military offensive into Ukraine in February 2022.