Zelensky meets Vance as Ukraine says Russia hit Chernobyl nuclear plant – CNN

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the United States “not to make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine” prior to meeting US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday.

• The US vice president delivered a long diatribe against European leaders at the conference on Friday, accusing them of an overly repressive response to unorthodox political views and even comparing them to Cold War tyrants.

• It’s been a week of major moves for a peace deal to end the war in Ukraine, with US President Trump appearing to make key concessions to Putin. But Vance warned Thursday the US could hit Russia with economic and military “tools of leverage” if Moscow doesn’t negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

• Meanwhile, Zelensky said a Russian drone struck the former Ukrainian nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, underscoring the crisis on the ground. Emergency services said radiation background limits remain normal.

Our live coverage has ended. Read more on Vance’s speech here or read through the posts below.

NATO’s Secretary General Mark Rutte called US Vice President JD Vance’s controversial speech on Friday “philosophical,” adding that Vance “stressed the unity of the US and Europe… and alluded to our common values of free speech, of democracy.”

Vance accused European leaders of suppressing free speech and refusing to work with hard-right parties in government in the speech, which Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called “unacceptable.”

Speaking to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in Munich, Germany, Rutte said: “The vice president giving a more philosophical speech here, but he very much stressed the unity of the US and Europe that we are really one family and indeed where he alluded to our common values of free speech, of democracy, etc. and these are values which bind us.”

As to NATO spending, Rutte told CNN he understands the United States’ “irritation” over its higher spending on defense than other NATO members, saying Europe has to “grow up” and “take care” of its own responsibility.

This comes after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week cemented the Trump administration’s demand for NATO members to spend 5% of their GDP on defense.

Rutte went on to say that senior American officials have expressed to him the need to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible.

A final deal in Ukraine has to be a strong deal… A weak deal on Ukraine will not only have consequences here in Europe and for the collective NATO security, but also for China which will then feel emboldened to move with whatever they want to do,” he said.

US Vice President JD Vance, at a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said he wants to “preserve the optionality” for those working to negotiate an end to the war, and said the goal is for a “durable, lasting peace.”

“We had a number of fruitful conversations and a number of things to follow up and work on,” Vance told reporters sitting directly across from Zelensky in Germany.

“Fundamentally, the goal is as President (Donald) Trump outlined it: We want the war to come to a close. We want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” he said.

Asked how this will move forward if Ukraine is not ready to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the table, Vance was reluctant to speak to the parameters of negotiations.

“It’s important for us to get together and start to have the conversations that are going to be necessary to bring this thing to a close. That’s all I’m going to say for now, because I want to preserve the optionality here for the negotiators and our respective teams to bring this thing to a responsible close,” Vance said.

Some background: Vance’s remarks come amid an air of uncertainty and anxiety which has enveloped Europe in the past week after Trump suggested Ukraine “may be Russian someday,” shortly before announcing that peace negotiations would begin immediately after holding a phone call with Putin.

Trump’s announcement sparked fears that a “dirty deal” may be struck with Putin to end the war on terms favorable to Moscow without Kyiv’s involvement.

But Vance warned earlier on Thursday the US could hit Russia with economic and military “tools of leverage” if Moscow doesn’t negotiate a peace deal in good faith.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the United States for its support following a Friday meeting with US Vice President JD Vance and urged for more dialogue to end the war in Ukraine.

“We are very thankful for American support,” Zelensky said after the highly anticipated meeting at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. “We had good conversations today, our first meeting, not last, I’m sure,” he added.

Really what we need (is) to speak more, to work more, and to prepare the plan how to stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and finish the war. Really, we want peace very much, but we need real security guarantees, and we’ll continue our meetings and our work,” he said.

Zelensky added that he will be “very happy” to see the US’ envoy to Ukraine and Russia, Gen. Keith Kellogg, in Ukraine “in the closest time.”

The Kremlin is assembling a high-level negotiating team to engage in direct talks with the United States to end the war in Ukraine, sources with knowledge of the issue have told CNN.

Members of the Kremlin team have not been publicly announced, but CNN has learned it will include top-level political, intelligence and economic figures, including the Russian official who played a key behind-the-scenes role in a recent US prisoner release deal.

Kirill Dmitriev, a close Putin adviser, will focus on restoring economic ties between the US and Russia as the two sides attempt to forge a Russia-Ukraine peace agreement, according to sources with knowledge of the appointment.

Recently, Dmitriev worked closely with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff – and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia – to secure the release from Russia of American teacher Marc Fogel, sources familiar with the deal told CNN.

There’s a gentleman from Russia. His name is Kirill, and he had a lot to do with this. He was important. He was an important interlocutor, bridging the two sides,” Witkoff told CNN on Wednesday.

Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sanctioned sovereign wealth fund, has been an outspoken Trump supporter from within Russia’s political elite, saying his US presidential election victory “shows that ordinary Americans are tired of the unprecedented lies, incompetence, and malice of the Biden administration.” He added that Trump’s win “opens up new opportunities for resetting relations between Russia and the United States.”

The Kremlin’s inclusion of Dmitriev, indicates that a key focus of Russia’s negotiating strategy in likely to be on sanctions reduction, as well as on repairing battered economic ties with the West.

Read the rest of the story here.

European officials criticized Vance’s speech on Friday, where he came out swinging against European allies for suppressing free speech, losing control of immigration, and refusing to work with hard-right parties in government.

Vance began his speech at the Munich Security Conference in Germany saying the Trump administration believes it can strike a “reasonable settlement between Russia and Ukraine,” but said the threat he worries most about in Europe is the “threat from within.”

Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko called Vance’s speech “the total humiliation of all European leaders.”

“I think this was one of the epoch-making speeches at the Munich conference,” Goncharenko posted on Telegram Friday, noting that Vance “said nothing about the war and Ukraine.”

“This is a bad call for us… We are in a very difficult situation, and no one but us can help us,” he said, adding that Vance “announced that there is no such thing as the West anymore. There is the United States and its vassal, the European Union.”

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also called Vance’s diatribe against European leaders “unacceptable.”

Speaking Friday at a separate event, Pistorius said he could not begin his address the way he originally intended to. “If I understood him (Vance) correctly, he compared conditions in parts of Europe with those in authoritarian regimes… That is unacceptable,” he said.

“I strongly oppose the impression that Vice President Vance has created that minorities are being suppressed or silenced in our democracy,” Pistorius added.

Pistorius, who has been campaigning for Germany’s Social Democratic Party (SPD) ahead of the country’s federal election on February 23, said German democracy allows for a plurality of views, meaning the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) can campaign “just like any other party.”

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said Ukraine should be armed “to the teeth” to deter Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Ukraine the “ally I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

“I think he’s [US President Donald Trump] going to find a way to end this war, in a fashion that Putin would be a fool to do it again,” Graham said during a panel discussion on Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

“How do you deter Putin? You arm this guy to the teeth,” Graham said, pointing at Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Let’s arm this guy, let’s do the minerals agreement so you have American business interests. Putin doesn’t understand what is going on. If we sign this minerals agreement then Putin is screwed, because Trump will defend the deal,” he said.

Graham called Ukraine the “ally I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

“You’ve taken our weapons, and you’ve kicked their ass, and I’m very proud to have you as our ally,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country’s army will need to double in size if NATO denies it membership to the alliance.

“If we do not have NATO, real NATO, we will make NATO in Ukraine. It means that we need to increase our soldiers, our army twice. We have 110 brigades. Russia has 220 brigades,” Zelensky said Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Zelensky said earlier that even though the Trump administration is not ready to talk about his country’s future membership of NATO, it remains the best security guarantee for Ukraine.

This comes after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth apparently ruled out Kyiv joining the military alliance on Wednesday, saying that it was unrealistic.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged the United States “not to make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine,” ahead of expected talks with US Vice President JD Vance.

“I think what is very important is the meeting, not to make any decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelensky said Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

“We will never accept it, and I’m not just speaking about me,” he said.

“It is very important for me to pressure (Russian President Vladimir) Putin. Put all the sanctions, I think President Trump is ready to do that. He has all this power to do that. That is why I wanted very much to come to Washington, any day.”

US Vice President JD Vance has compared current European leaders with autocrats who oversaw repressive regimes across the continent during the Cold War.

“When we see European courts canceling elections and senior officials threatening to cancel others, we need to ask whether we’re holding ourselves to an appropriately high standard,” Vance said Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Vance drew parallels between what he cast as repressive crackdowns on free speech today with the autocracies of the 20th century.

“Within living memory of many of you in this room, the Cold War positioned defenders of democracy against much more tyrannical forces on this continent,” Vance said.

“Consider the side in that fight that censored dissidents, that closed churches, that canceled elections. Were they the good guys? Certainly not. And thank God, they lost the Cold War. They lost because they neither valued nor respected all of the extraordinary blessings of liberty,” he said.

“You can’t force people what to think, what to feel or what to believe… Unfortunately, when I look at Europe today, it’s sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold War’s winners.”

US Vice President JD Vance has delivered a long diatribe against European leaders for allegedly cracking down on free speech and “running in fear” of their own voters.

In the speech at the Munich Security Conference on Friday, which was ostensibly addressing European security concerns, Vance listed a string of what he cast as an overly repressive European responses to unorthodox political views.

He slammed the United Kingdom for arresting a citizen for protesting near an abortion clinic, and Sweden for convicting an anti-Islam campaign who publicly burned Korans, along with a string of other incidents.

Vance criticized European leaders that he said “threatened and bullied social media companies to censor so-called misinformation,” citing the example of the Covid-19 lab leak theory.

“It looks more and more like old, entrenched interests, hiding behind ugly, Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation, who simply don’t like the idea that somebody with an alternative viewpoint might express a different opinion or, God forbid, vote a different way or, even worse, win an election,” Vance said.

The vice president said that “shutting down” unorthodox viewpoints “is the most surefire way to destroy democracy.”

“If American democracy can survive 10 years of Greta Thunberg scolding, you guys can survive a few months of Elon Musk,” he added.

Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has said it is classifying Russia’s reported overnight drone strike on the former Chernobyl nuclear power plant as a war crime.

The SBU said its investigators have started criminal proceedings into the impact that damaged the concrete shell of the plant’s fourth power unit. Despite the damage, Ukrainian officials have said radiation levels remain normal.

Moscow earlier denied involvement in the incident, but the SBU said it had discovered the wreckage of a type of Shahed drone, which Russia has used extensively in airstrikes on Ukraine.

“For maximum damage, this attack drone was equipped with a high-explosive warhead,” the SBU wrote on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Prosecutor’s Office said it has launched an investigation.

Under international humanitarian law, nuclear power plants – which are civilian objects – are protected against attacks.

Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson has said the Trump administration’s approach to peace talks over Ukraine shows “realism,” after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said NATO membership for Ukraine was not a realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.

“It seems to me that this is more a manifestation of realism,” Maria Zakharova said at a Friday news conference in Moscow.

Zakharova referred to remarks by US President Donald Trump, who has said that his predecessor Joe Biden was responsible for Russia’s war in Ukraine, and for suggesting that Kyiv could one day join NATO.

“(Trump) said that, in his opinion, the whole story began after the team of Biden began to speculate on the topic of NATO, the inclusion of Ukraine in NATO, and so on,” Zakharova said.

“In my opinion, this speaks of realism,” she said.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine without provocation in February 2022, when NATO membership was a distant prospect. NATO has an “open door policy,” meaning any country that meets the necessary criteria can apply to join the alliance if they choose to – as Finland and Sweden did in 2023, fearing Russian aggression.

Speaking earlier in Warsaw, Poland, Hegseth said his job has been “to introduce realism to the conversation” by telling Ukrainian and European officials that “the reality is Ukraine membership in NATO as part of a negotiated settlement (is) unlikely.”

US Vice President JD Vance says the greatest threat Europe faces is “from within,” in his opening remarks at the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

“The threat that I worry most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia, not China, it’s not any other external actor. What I worry about is the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values,” Vance said Friday.

He cited a decision by Romania’s constitutional court to annul the country’s presidential election last year, amid allegations of Russian interference, as evidence of Europe’s backsliding.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia is preparing to attack a NATO country next year, citing Ukrainian intelligence, and said Moscow will renew its offensive on Ukraine if Kyiv does not receive sufficient security guarantees.

Speaking Friday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Zelensky said Russian President Vladimir Putin could launch an attack on a member of NATO as soon as 2026.

“This is what I’ve got from intelligence. I think that he is preparing the war against NATO countries next year,” Zelensky told reporters.

Zelensky has long claimed that Putin “will not stop” at Ukraine, although his remarks Friday gave a more specific timeline than before, and would be sooner than other European estimates.

Last year, Denmark’s defense minister said, “it cannot be ruled out that within a three- to five-year period, Russia will test Article 5 and NATO’s solidarity.”

Zelensky also said Friday that if Ukraine does not receive security guarantees in a negotiated peace, this would be “very profitable” for Russia.

He said it is insufficient simply to tell Putin to stop. “That’s not enough. That’s why how to stop it is security guarantees for us,” the Ukrainian president added.

A top aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Friday with Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

Andriy Yermak, Zelensky’s chief of staff, said his conversation with Kellogg centered on “joint efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace.”

“Putin never plays by the rules. Russians respect only force and despise those who do not use it. Any agreements without strong Russian coercion will not work – control over Ukraine remains the basis of the Kremlin’s imperial ambitions,” Yermak wrote on Telegram.

Kellogg’s meeting with senior Ukrainian officials comes as Kyiv fears being sidelined in conversations about the future of Ukraine, after US President Donald Trump held a long call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin this week before calling Zelensky. Trump also did not say whether he viewed Ukraine as an “equal partner” in peace talks.

Yermak stressed it is “our common duty to make sure that the aggressor pays a real price for everything it has done.”

Later Friday, Zelensky is set to meet with US Vice President JD Vance in Munich.

The GOP Senate Armed Services chairman criticized Pete Hegseth on Friday for making a “rookie mistake” after the new defense secretary offered shifting positions related to US posture toward the war in Ukraine this week.

In Brussels on Wednesday, Hegseth said Kyiv joining NATO is unrealistic and that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, “is an unrealistic objective.” A day later, Hegseth hedged on those comments, saying “everything is on the table” in negotiations between the two countries.

“Hegseth is going to be a great defense secretary, although he wasn’t my choice for the job,” Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi told Politico. “But he made a rookie mistake in Brussels and he’s walked back some of what he said but not that line.”

Wicker said he was “surprised” by the defense secretary’s original comments but “heartened” by the change of course.

He also said he favors a firm posture with Moscow, telling Politico, “I prefer we didn’t give away negotiating positions before we actually get started talking about the end of the Russia-Ukraine war.”

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has held an “urgent meeting” with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), following Russia’s reported overnight drone strike on the former nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.

Sybiha said he met with Grossi in Germany, where world leaders – including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Vice President JD Vance – are meeting for the annual Munich Security Conference.

“We urge strong international reactions to Russia’s nuclear blackmail,” Sybiha wrote on social media. He said he had passed Grossi a letter from Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, about the consequences of the reported strike.

Earlier, Zelensky accused Moscow of targeting the concrete shell of the former plant. The Kremlin has denied responsibility.

Sybiha said he and Grossi also discussed Russia’s continued occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).

Russian troops took the ZNPP in March 2022, in the early weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. The plant’s Ukrainian staff were initially forced to work at gunpoint, according to Ukrainian officials.

Grossi said in summer 2022 that “every principle of nuclear safety” had been “violated” at the ZNPP. He managed to secure his IAEA staff a visit in August of that year, while it remained under Russian control. By mid-2023, all reactors at the plant had been put into a “cold shutdown” status, limiting the chance of a major nuclear event.

“Russia continues to block IAEA rotations and hold the plant hostage,” Sybiha said, adding that he and Grossi “agreed that the ZNPP must return under Ukraine’s control.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that even though the Trump administration is not ready to talk about his country’s future membership of NATO, it remains the best security guarantee for Ukraine.

Talking with journalists ahead of his meeting later Friday with US Vice President JD Vance at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky acknowledged that “today’s America and President Trump are not ready to talk about (Ukrainian membership of) NATO. They are openly saying that.”

But Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine still wanted to join the alliance “because of the security guarantees.”

“We trust NATO, we trust these security guarantees. I’m being pragmatic and honest, this is the cheapest option for everyone.”

Zelensky added: “If we are not in NATO, and I am openly talking about this, then Ukraine should build with Europe.” That would involve “having the appropriate NATO weapons and the appropriate number of our Ukrainian military.”

The Ukrainian president estimated that his country would need an army of 1.5 million people. “Today, our army, the number of combat brigades is about two times less than the 1.5 million we need.”

He estimated the current budget for the Ukrainian military at $40 billion, an amount that would have to increase by 50%. “Where is this going to come from?” he asked.

As for a foreign force that would guarantee a ceasefire, Zelensky said: “If we are really talking about a serious contingent, we (must) understand how many and where it should be.”

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Ukraine and its allies have successfully prevented Russian President Vladimir Putin from achieving the primary goal of his full-scale invasion – capturing the whole of Ukraine.

Asked whether Putin would be “emboldened” by a negotiated settlement that awards him large swaths of Ukrainian territory, Hegseth said the Russian leader is “going to declare victory no matter what,” but that Putin had fallen far short of his initial military objectives.

“Thankfully the bravery of the Ukrainians and allies that came alongside them, especially early in the war, deterred and defeated Vladimir Putin from achieving what he wanted, which was all of Ukraine,” Hegseth said in Warsaw, Poland, on Friday.

Whether or not Putin is “emboldened” by a negotiated settlement depends on NATO’s response, Hegseth said.

“If NATO’s response to the situation is to truly increase capabilities, truly increase inputs and spending to think more like Poland, to think more like the Baltics, who are closer to the threat… then I don’t think… Putin will be emboldened by this outcome,” he said.

“It’ll be a recognition that the collective ability of the West to deter him was something that actually happened,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that his conversation with US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday was long enough “to talk about some details,” but “not enough to make a plan.”

“We hear each other. We talked very positively. It was a really good conversation,” he told journalists at the Munich Security Conference on Friday. “We talked about the details of the situation at the front, what are the real losses.”

Zelensky said his figures on battlefield losses were different from Trump’s, but “the main thing is what we do next.”

Zelensky also said that he and Trump had spoken about the North Korean contingent fighting with the Russians in the Kursk region, where Ukrainian forces have taken several hundred square kilometers of Russian territory.

“We talked a lot about North Korea. About how many thousands there are, how many thousands have been killed… We also see now that there are several thousand, we think 2,000, maybe 2,500-3,000 (North Korean) soldiers will be transferred to the Kursk direction.”

Zelensky asserted that there were more than 4,000 North Korean casualties among the contingent previously sent, estimated at some 11,000 by Ukrainian officials.

“I think that the morale of the North Korean soldiers has deteriorated, because we see the number of people who have fled in one direction.

“I think these are important things for President Trump to hear – that they continue to have contacts with North Korea in terms of supplying military personnel, weapons, missiles,” Zelensky added.

Europe cannot assume that US military presence on the continent “will last forever,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said at a Friday news conference in Warsaw, Poland.

Asked whether, as part of negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, the United States would consider lowering its military presence in eastern Europe or give up its permanent military presence in Poland, Hegseth stressed that his country is “committed to the NATO alliance,” but suggested that its future military footprint in Europe is up for debate.

“The American troop levels on the continent are important. What happens five or 10 or 15 years from now is part of a larger discussion that reflects the threat level, America’s posture, (and) our needs around the globe,” Hegseth said.

“That’s why our message is so stark to our European allies: Now is the time to invest. Because you can’t make an assumption that America’s presence will last forever,” he said.

Hegseth said the US’ need to counter other threats, such as China, means “countries like Poland and others” will have to “step up” in Europe.

Hegseth added that the warm reception he had received in Poland “would make me want to welcome more (American) troops to Poland,” but quickly clarified: “That’s not a policy statement. That’s just how I feel.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he doesn’t see that the United States “has a ready-made plan” for settling the conflict in his country.

“I think this is very important,” he told journalists on the sidelines of Friday’s Munich Security Conference.

“I told President (Donald) Trump… I’m ready at any time, I don’t need anything for this, no numbers, nothing, I know everything. We are ready to talk at any time.”

“We are ready to talk about everything, from (military) contingents to security guarantees, about NATO, whether we are in NATO or NATO is in Ukraine. We are ready for any kind of construction to stop (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” Zelensky added.

The Ukrainian president said that his country wanted to act “in accordance with international law… and in accordance with the prevention of future fears for the whole world of Putin’s return.”

Zelensky confirmed that Ukraine had handed over to US officials the draft agreement on United States’ access to Ukraine’s resources of rare earth minerals.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said it is “possible” that Ukraine could reclaim territory claimed by Russia since its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Earlier this week, Hegseth said in Brussels that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, is an “unrealistic objective.”

Asked at a Friday news conference in Warsaw whether Ukraine could return to its pre-2022 borders, however, Hegseth said: “Anything is possible.”

“My job today and in Brussels was to introduce realism to the conversation – the reality that returning to 2014’s borders as part of a negotiated settlement is unlikely. The reality of US troops in Ukraine is unlikely. The reality of Ukraine membership in NATO as part of a negotiated settlement – unlikely,” he said.

Hegseth said he stands by the comments he made Wednesday in Brussels.

“That said, I would never put constraints around what the president of the United States would be willing to negotiate with the sovereign leaders of both Russia and Ukraine,” he said.

Hegseth was criticized earlier this week for making what appeared to be concessions to Moscow before negotiations had even begun.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that the battlefield situation has improved in the Pokrovsk area of eastern Donetsk in recent days.

Speaking to journalists in Munich Friday, Zelensky said that in recent days, the Ukrainian military’s situation in the Pokrovsk area, where troops have been under pressure for months, “has become better. Without giving details, I would say that we are more confident there than we were before.”

CNN reported earlier this week on a Ukrainian counterattack to the south of Pokrovsk, which analysts believe is designed to prevent Russian forces from surrounding the strategic hub.

On his earlier statement that a Russian drone had hit the former Chernobyl nuclear plant early Friday, Zelensky said the aircraft had flown very low to avoid radars. Therefore, it “can be recognized as a terrorist act,” he added. “If the radars cannot see at this altitude, they (the Russians) did it on purpose.”

Zelensky asserted Putin “definitely does not want peace… I think that he is in comfortable enough conditions today to attack the Chernobyl plant. Because when a person is under pressure from different sides, in my opinion, he does not do this. And when he wants a dialogue and an end to the war, he doesn’t do that.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied an accusation by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that a Russian drone struck part of the destroyed Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the early hours of Friday.

Peskov told a media call that he did not have exact information. “But I know one thing: there can be no question of strikes being carried out on nuclear infrastructure or nuclear energy facilities. Therefore, any claim that this is the case is not true.”

The Kremlin spokesman added: “The Russian military does not do this. Most likely, this is yet another provocation, a frame-up.”

The British government has committed to ensuring Ukraine’s “irreversible path” to NATO membership, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, as reported by the UK’s PA Media news agency.

Starmer made the comments in a phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the Ukrainian president’s attendance at the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

“The prime minister began by reiterating the UK’s concrete support for Ukraine, for as long as it’s needed,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a readout of the call.

“The prime minister reiterated the UK’s commitment to Ukraine being on an irreversible path to NATO as agreed by allies at the Washington Summit last year,” the spokesperson continued.

This comes after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth apparently ruled out Kyiv joining the military alliance on Wednesday, saying that it was unrealistic. Hegseth also said that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders, before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine, “is an unrealistic objective.”

The Ukrainian government has finalized a draft agreement on providing the United States with access to its reserves of rare earth metals and passed it to US officials, according to Ukrainian media.

The agreement was discussed by Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump on Wednesday.

The topic was also talked about during US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s visit to Kyiv this week.

In an interview with Fox News last Sunday, Trump said that he had told the Ukrainians: “I want the equivalent (of) like $500 billion worth of rare earth. And they’ve essentially agreed to do that so at least we don’t feel stupid.”

Zelensky later posted on X that the minerals would not be handed over for free.

“Ukraine is open to partnerships, but our resources are not something we simply hand over – even to our closest allies,” he wrote. “Strategic cooperation must be mutually beneficial.”

But the Ukrainian president has also signaled an openness in the past to allowing the US to access his country’s natural resources, including its deposits of critical minerals like graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium.

Vice President JD Vance reiterated on Friday that NATO remains an important alliance for the United States, as the Munich Security Conference kicked off in Germany with the Russia-Ukraine war expected to be a focal point of discussions.

“Europe is of course a very important ally to the United States, NATO is a very important military alliance … but we want to make sure NATO is actually built for the future, and 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,” Vance said, speaking to reporters beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

His remarks echo those made by other members of the Trump administration in recent days as it seeks to dramatically reshape decades of American foreign policy in Europe, warning that the US will no longer prioritize European security and focus more on its own borders and battling China for dominance.

“Of course we’re going to talk about NATO, particularly the president’s desire to see NATO spend a little bit more resources on defense,” Vance said. “We’re going to talk of course about the Ukraine-Russia conflict and how to bring it to a negotiated settlement, and I’m sure we’ll talk about some other areas of cooperation too.”

Vance is set to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this morning.

Rutte thanked Vance for Washington’s past engagement with Europe, agreeing that the increased burden-sharing “has to be done.” He added that discussions about ending the Russia-Ukraine war had to consider how to establish lasting peace and strengthen Ukraine’s position before talks begin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian drone struck the destroyed nuclear power plant at Chernobyl near Ukraine’s border with Belarus on Thursday night.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service later said that the radiation background limits remain within normal limits.

“A Russian attack drone with a high-explosive warhead struck the shelter protecting the world from radiation at the destroyed 4th power unit” at the plant, Zelensky said on X.

The concrete shelter that covers the unit was damaged, Zelensky added and a fire was extinguished. “Radiation levels have not increased and are being constantly monitored. According to initial assessments, the damage to the shelter is significant,” Zelensky said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on X that shortly before 2 a.m. local time its team at the Chernobyl site “heard an explosion coming from the New Safe Confinement, which protects the remains of reactor 4 of the former Chernobyl NPP, causing a fire.”

“They were informed that a UAV [drone] had struck the NSC roof,” the IAEA added.

Unit 4 at Chernobyl exploded in 1986, sending extensive clouds of radioactivity across parts of the Soviet Union and Europe. It was later encased in a concrete and steel sarcophagus.

US Vice President JD Vance warned on Thursday that the United States could hit Russia with economic and military “tools of leverage” if Russian leader Vladimir Putin doesn’t negotiate a peace deal with Ukraine in good faith.

Speaking to the Wall Street Journal on Thursday, Vance said the option of sending US troops to Ukraine was “on the table,” as well as economic punishment if a peace deal doesn’t guarantee Kyiv’s long-term independence.

“There are economic tools of leverage, there are of course military tools of leverage” Vance told the newspaper.

His comments strike a markedly different tone from other recent statements from the White House – including from US President Donald Trump who suggested this week that Ukraine “may be Russian someday,” shortly before announcing that peace negotiations would begin immediately after holding a phone call with Putin.

Vance’s statement also contrasts with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has said the US would no longer prioritize European and Ukrainian security. This week, he told NATO allies that European and non-European troops – but not Americans – would have to police any agreement between Ukraine and Russia.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

This story has been updated with additional information.
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Source: https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/ukraine-russia-nato-war-negotiations-02-14-25-intl/index.html