National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Feb. 9 that top administration officials will meet with European officials this week to talk about how to end the war in Ukraine. Waltz claimed that the Russian economy is not doing well and that President Donald Trump “is prepared to tax, to tariff, to sanction” Moscow to get Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, reported AP.
At the same time, Waltz stressed that the Trump administration is looking to use this week’s engagements to begin talks on clawing back some of the United States’ assistance to Ukraine. “We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their natural resources and their oil and gas and also buying ours,” Waltz said in an appearance on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “Those conversations are going to happen this week. And I think an underlying principle here is that the Europeans have to own this conflict going forward. President Trump is going to end it. And then in terms of security guarantees, that is squarely going to be with the Europeans.’’
Vice President J.D. Vance heads to Munich later in the week, after a stopover in Paris, to the Feb. 14-16 Munich Security Conference, where Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy will lead the country’s delegation. Rubio, Hegseth and Trump’s special envoy on Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg, will also be in Munich.
Despite all of the talk about negotiations and settling the war, the Russians say they have seen no practical change in U.S./NATO policies. “We are observing that recently, probably, over the past couple of weeks, the collective West and, particularly, the U.S. and its new administration, have been talking about the need for the swiftest relaunch and resumption of a negotiation process in order to move toward the political and diplomatic settlement of the Ukraine crisis,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said in a Feb. 10 interview with Izvestia, reported TASS. “So far, such statements have only been made in the public space and we do not have any official inquiries on that matter.”
“But I have to say that with all these seemingly positive statements, actually nothing has changed given that the West continues to flood the Nazi Kiev regime with arms. We observe this fact and take it into account in our policy above all,” the senior Russian diplomat said. “In total, over almost three years, the volume of weapons provided to the Kiev regime has amounted to about $200 billion.”
