Vance asks Europe to stem illegal migration; Russia strikes Chernobyl

US Vice-President JD Vance urged European officials to stem illegal migration on the continent during his speech on Friday before the Munich Security Conference.

 

Vance said the European electorate didn’t vote to open “floodgates to millions of unvetted immigrants.” The vice president earlier in his comments Friday derided Europe for squelching free speech, saying freedom is in danger. He also hammered home the US demand that the Nato alliance step up defence spending, speaking at a time of intense concern and uncertainty over the Trump administration’s foreign policy.

 

The future of Ukraine is the top item on the agenda in Munich following a phone call between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin this week, when they pledged to work together to end the 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict.

 

Vance was expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later Friday for talks that many observers, particularly in Europe, hope will shed at least some light on Trump’s ideas for a negotiated settlement to the war.

 

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the conference that everyone “wants this war to end.” But “how this war ends,” he said, “will have a lasting influence on our security order and on the position of power of Europe and America in the world.”

 

Nato defence spending

 

Vance started his day in Munich meeting separately with Steinmeier, Nato Secretary-General Mark Rutte, and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. He used the engagements to reiterate the Republican Trump administration’s call for Nato members to spend more on defence.

 

Currently, 23 of Nato’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s target of spending 2 per cent of the nation's GDP on defence.

 

“Nato is a very important military alliance, of course, that we’re the most significant part of,” Vance told Rutte. “But we want to make sure that Nato is actually built for the future, and we think a big part of that is ensuring that Nato does a little bit more burden sharing in Europe, so the United States can focus on some of our challenges in East Asia.” Rutte said he agreed that Europe needs to step up. “We have to grow up in that sense and spend much more,” he said.

 

Chernobyl drone strike

 

Hours before Vance and Zelenskyy were set to meet, a Russian drone with a high-explosive warhead hit the protective confinement shell of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian president said. Radiation levels have not increased, Zelenskyy and the UN atomic agency said.

 

Zelenskyy in Munich told reporters that he thinks the Chernobyl drone strike is a “very clear greeting from Putin and Russian Federation to the security conference.” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday denied Ukraine’s claims. And Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the Munich organisers haven’t invited Russia for several years, a decision she called “strange and politicised.” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was supposed to join Vance and Zelenskyy but was delayed when his Air Force plane had to return to Washington after developing a mechanical problem en route to Munich. He took a different aircraft, but it was unclear whether he would arrive in time for the meeting.

 

Trump, who upended years of steadfast US support for Ukraine during his call with Putin on Wednesday, has been vague about his specific intentions — other than suggesting that a deal will likely result in Ukraine being forced to cede territory that Russia has seized since it annexed Crimea in 2014.

 

“The Ukraine war has to end,” Trump told reporters Thursday. 

 

Trump in recent days said he wants to reach an agreement with Ukraine to gain access to the country's rare earth materials as a condition for continuing US support for Ukraine's defence against Russia. He confirmed earlier this week that aides were working toward striking such a deal.

 

Asked Friday if a deal might be completed in Munich, Vance responded, “We'll see.” 

 

Possible sanctions against Russia

 

Vance, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, said that the US would hit Moscow with sanctions and potentially military action if Putin won’t agree to a peace deal with Ukraine that guarantees Kyiv’s long-term independence. The warning that military options “remain on the table” was striking language from a Trump administration that’s repeatedly underscored a desire to quickly end the war.