MUNICH: European countries gave a cautious welcome on Saturday to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s more conciliatory tone at the Munich Security Conference but stressed that major differences remained with their traditional ally.

In a keynote address to dozens of world leaders, foreign ministers and defence chiefs, Rubio declared that Europe and the United States “belong” together and focused heavily on shared history and heritage.

“The fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own,” he said in an address greeted by repeated rounds of applause, adding that “ultimately our destiny is, and will always be, intertwined with yours”.

All eyes had been on Rubio’s speech, a year after US Vice President JD Vance used the same stage to deliver a withering attack on Europe’s immigration policies and accused the continent’s governments of curbing free speech. It also came after tensions soared recently over US President Donald Trump’s ambitions to seize Greenland, an autonomous territory of EU and Nato member Denmark.

Zelensky says all Ukrainian power plants damaged, calls Putin ‘slave to war’

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul praised the fact the top US diplomat had focused on what Europe and America had achieved together in the past and could do in future.

“So he was looking forward — this is good,” Wadephul said, adding that it signalled the relationship could again be a “success story”. But Wadephul also emphasised that many “uncertainties” remained. Rubio in his speech did not shy away from more controversial topics, criticising mass migration to the West and what he labelled its de-industrialisation, and attacking the United Nations for failing to resolve conflicts.

He urged Europe to join Trump’s drive for global “renewal”, saying that acting together “will restore to us a clear sense of ourselves”. “It will restore a place in the world, and in so doing, it will rebuke and deter the forces of civilisational erasure that today menace both America and Europe alike.”

Heating cuts

Every power plant in Ukraine has been damaged by Russian attacks, forcing millions to face heating cuts in the cold, President Volodymyr Zele­nsky told the Munich Security Confe­rence on Saturday, calling Russia’s Vladimir Putin a “slave to war.” Zele­nsky addressed officials days before the fourth anniversary of Mosc­ow’s invasion, which has killed hundreds of thousands, decimated eastern Ukraine and forced millions to flee.

Kyiv and its Western allies have accused Moscow of deliberately freezing Ukraine’s population with the energy grid strikes. “There is not a single power plant left in Ukraine that has not been damaged by Russian attacks,” Zelensky said. “Not one.” “But we still generate electricity,” he added defiantly, praising the thousands of workers repairing the plants. He called for speedier deliveries for Ukraine’s Western-supplied air defence systems, saying: “Sometimes we manage to deliver new missiles for our Patriots or NASAMS.”

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2026