Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the formation of an “Armed Forces of Europe” in a speech delivered before the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Saturday.
While the Trump administration has drawn feigned outrage throughout European capitals for daring to suggest that they meet their NATO defence spending obligations, President Zelensky was hailed with applause at the Munich Security Conference as he called for an international European army.
Zelensky argued that a European army would be necessary for Europe to take back its own destiny and to ensure its safety if America refused to come to its rescue.
“Let’s be honest, now we can’t rule out the possibility that America might say ‘no’ to Europe on an issue that might threaten it. Many leaders have talked about a Europe that needs its own military, an army of Europe. And I really believe that the time has come for the Armed Forces of Europe to be created,” Zelensky said.
The Ukraine leader said per the AP that “three years of full-scale war have proven that we already have the foundation for a united European military force. And now, as we fight this war and lay the groundwork for peace and security, we must build the armed forces of Europe.”
Zelensky claimed that such an army would not represent “replacing” the NATO alliance but rather “about making Europe’s contribution to our partnership equal to America’s.
“A few days ago, President Trump told me about his conversation with Putin. Not once did he mention that America needs Europe at the table. That says a lot,” he added. “The old days are over when America supported Europe just because it always had.”
Separately, in an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour at the Conference, Zelensky said that he had a “long” conversation with President Trump about the framework of a peace negotiation between Ukraine and Russia, but that more details would be needed, particularly on the issue of security guarantees for Kyiv.
He said that the “devil is in the details” and that further talks with the Trump administration will be necessary. Zelensky stressed that not only does Ukraine need to be “at the table” for any peace negotiations but also that Europe needs a seat at the negotiations, saying that his country is “in Europe” despite not being a part of the European Union or a member of the NATO alliance.
Although many European nations have long failed to meet their NATO spending requirements, a key point of contention between Europe and President Trump, the notion of creating a European Army has been a long-held aim of key globalists on the continent, such as French President Emmanuel Macron, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt.
Such a project may force Europeans to invest far more in their defence spending. However, concerns have also been raised about further deteriorating national sovereignty for EU member states, with the issue being a key debate in the United Kingdom in the lead-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum. Establishment politicians accused figures such as Nigel Farage of peddling conspiracy theories after warning that Brussels was seeking to create an EU army.
The issue of a common defence force has come to the fore of discussions amid talks of a pan-European defence force being deployed to Ukraine to act as a security guarantee, given the Trump administration’s opposition to committing American troops to the former Soviet state as a buffer against further Russian invasions.
A report last month from The Times of London claimed that there is a split within Europe on the prospect of potentially deploying as many as 100,000 troops to Ukraine, with the UK, France, and the Nordic nations being in favour of the project, while Germany, Poland, and the Baltic states remain concerned that committing a large portion of Europe’s limited military resources to the country would leave other areas of the continent unprotected from Russia.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2025/02/15/zelensky-calls-for-creation-of-european-armed-forces-at-munich-security-conference/
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