Ukraine Update…Day 1,078….Zelensky calls for a “European Army….

And [Dem Senator] Coons said his message would be blunt: “Don’t give up on us.”

Then he revised what he expected his message to be.

“You should not give up hope,” Coons said. “But this is going to be a really tough couple of years.”…

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• Finnish president Alexander Stubb told Reuters on Saturday that the US had sent a questionnaire to European countries asking them what they could do to provide security guarantees for Europe. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Stubb said: “The Americans have provided Europeans with the questionnaire on what would be possible.”

• France is in discussion with its allies over the idea of holding an informal summit of European leaders to discuss Ukraine, a French presidency official said on Saturday, Reuters reports. Additionally, four European diplomats said the meeting was likely to go ahead on Monday, Reuters added.

• Donald Trump’s administration has proposed to Ukraine that the US be given 50% of the war-torn country’s rare earth minerals, NBC reports, citing four US officials. According to two of the officials, instead of paying for the minerals, the agreement would be a way for Ukraine to pay back the multi-billion dollar weapons and aid packages that the US has provided to it since Russia’s invasion in 2022.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Saturday that the rare earth mineral deal proposed by the US did not contain security provisions which Ukraine needed, Reuters reports. Upon being asked by reporters what the issue was with the US document, Zelenskyy said on Saturday: “It’s not in our interest today, not in the interest sovereign Ukraine.”

• Senior officials from the US and Russia are meeting next week in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for a potential leaders’ summit as soon as the end of the month to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter, Reuters reports. On Saturday, Donald Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg said that Europe will be consulted – but ultimately excluded – from peace talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US.

• German chancellor Olaf Scholz has shot back strongly in defence of his stance against the far-right and said his country will not accept people who “intervene in our democracy,” a day after US vice-president JD Vance scolded European leaders over their approach to democracy. Scholz said:“Free speech in Europe means that you are not attacking others in ways that are against legislation and laws we have in our country.”

• Scholz said on Saturday that the war between Ukraine and Russia would only truly end with peace if Ukrainian sovereignty is secured. “We will also not accept any solution that leads to a decoupling of European and American security. Only one person would benefit from this: President Putin,” he added.

• The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that the time has come for a European army to be created. “Our army alone is not enough, we need your support,” he said, adding that the “old days” when the US supported Europe “just because it always had” are over. He also told leaders and officials that he would not take Nato membership for Ukraine off the table and insisted that no decisions should be taken on ending Russia’s war without Kyiv and Europe.

• UK foreign minister David Lammy said on Saturday he would encourage US president Donald Trump and Zelenskyy to deepen their partnership in the future. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Lammy said the best security guarantee for Ukraine against future Russian aggression was binding US industry, business and defence capability into its future.

• Nato secretary general Mark Rutte said on Saturday that “Russia is on a war economy. We are not,” at the Munich Security Conference.Additionally, Rutte said Nato’s members would have to increase defence spending despite domestic political concerns.

• Amid angry European reactions to JD Vance’s combative speech in Munich, Switzerland’s president said on Saturday she shared many of the “liberal values” he expressed, seeing the speech as a “plea for direct democracy”. In an interview with the Le Temps daily published on Saturday, she said that “in a certain sense, (the speech) was very Swiss in its call to listen to the population”.

• German conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz on Saturday joined his domestic political rivals in condemning Vance’s attack on Europe’s stance toward hate speech and the far right. “We stick to the rules imposed by our democratic institutions,” Merz said in a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference…..

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is attempting to create conditions to frame Putin as the victor over US President Donald Trump in negotiations…

…Russian state media to reduce reporting about Trump and instead portray Putin as a strong and decisive leader, as well as to frame the February 12 Putin-Trump phone call as a victory for Putin.[4] Zelensky also stated that Trump has not discussed the prospect of having other European states participate in negotiations and that Ukraine and the rest of Europe need to present a united front to Putin and Europe needs to participate in decisions about its own future.[5] The Kremlin has routinely attempted to portray the US as the only other relevant actor in Ukraine besides Russia to deny Ukraine’s agency in future negotiations and set conditions to convince the US to ignore Ukraine’s interests, all likely to demand significant concessions in Russia’s favor.[6] Zelensky also reiterated his warning that Russia will field 15 new divisions and use military exercises in Belarus to threaten NATO….

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Daily Kos grunt report for Today….

Note….

One way or another…..

Ukraine President IS going to get some European Troops stationed IN Ukraine….

THAT….

IS essentail for Ukraine to make Putin think twice after any cease-fire….