Trump-Putin call ‘not a betrayal’ of Ukraine, insists US’s Hegseth as he heads for Nato showdown – Europe live | Ukraine

• A car, pictured in a social media post from a local reporter as a Mini, went into the crowds in the German city of Munich during what was described by local media as a trade union demonstration.

• It is not known at this stage if it was a deliberate act or a traffic accident.

• Munich police said there were ‘several people injured,’ without going into the detail of the extent of their injuries, or the circumstances of the incident.

• The driver was detained at the scene and poses no further threat, police said.

• This development comes just a day before the Munich Security Conference, although there is no suggestion at this stage that the two events are in any way linked.

Munich police has now tweeted a post saying it is looking for witnesses that could help in its investigation.

Various German media are publishing unconfirmed information about the number of people injured, but we will bring you updates only once these are confirmed.

And here is the latest update from the Munich police as it says that the driver of the car which was driven into crowds was detained at the scene and poses no further threat.

I will keep an eye out for further updates from the authorities there.

German police has just tweeted that “several” people were injured after a car was driven into a group of people in Munich.

It earlier tweeted about a “major police operation” responding to an incident.

We will bring you more when we have it, but just a reminder that there is a lot of spotlight on the Bavarian city this week, ahead of the Munich Security Conference starting tomorrow.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz said a deal to end the Ukraine war should not be imposed on Kyiv, after US president Donald Trump agreed to open negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a call.

“The next task is to ensure that there is no dictated peace,” Scholz told news outlet Politico.

AFP reported that Scholz said in the interview that transatlantic unity must “always be guaranteed”.

“It is quite clear to me that there can be no solution that is not also a solution in which the US is involved,” Scholz said.

The chancellor at the same time ruled out for the moment sending German troops to Ukraine.

“Everyone knows that this is out of the question now,” he said.

At this stage it was “not clear under what conditions Ukraine would be prepared to agree to a peace agreement”, Scholz said.

Ukraine needed the opportunity to develop “even after the peace agreement,” Scholz said.

This meant having “a strong army” that would be larger than before the war and equipped with western weapons.

Jakub Krupa

Let’s go back to Ukraine for more reactions now.

I will keep an eye on events elsewhere in Europe. And if you want to flag something, you can always email me at jakub.krupa@theguardian.com.

Belarus has released three detainees including a veteran journalist for a US government-funded broadcaster and a US citizen, the White House said on Wednesday.

The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed the release on Wednesday of three people including “one American and two individuals from Belarus, one of whom worked for Radio Liberty”. The released American has not been identified.

The opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya posted on social media that the activist Alena Maushuk was among those released and had a serious health condition, adding that all three of those released were in Vilnius.

The freed detainees also included Andrey Kuznechyk, a journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is known in Belarus as Radio Svoboda.

There is no doubt the kiss Luis Rubiales gave Jenni Hermoso after her triumph with Spain at the 2023 Women’s World Cup was non-consensual, a court has been told.

Rubiales is standing trial for sexual assault in Spain after being forced to resign as president of Spain’s football federation in disgrace after the incident.

The scandal prompted a global outcry and thrust the spotlight on the prevalence of macho culture and sexism in sport and beyond.

Prosecutors are seeking two and a half years in prison for Rubiales, 47, one year for sexual assault and 18 months for allegedly coercing Hermoso to downplay the incident.

The player says she did not consent to the kiss. Rubiales has always denied wrongdoing and says the act was consensual.

Twelve people were wounded when a grenade was thrown into a bar in the city of Grenoble in south-eastern France, officials said on Wednesday.

The attacker entered the bar, which was packed with customers, and threw a grenade before fleeing without saying a word, said prosecutor François Touret-de-Courcy. Investigators had not yet identified a motive but did not believe it was a terrorist attack.

Magistrate Christophe Barret said the attacker appeared to be carrying a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle but did not use it.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms this criminal act of extraordinary violence,” Grenoble mayor Eric Piolle wrote on X.

Poland’s Europe minister Adam Szłapka told Polish broadcaster TVN24 this morning that he was “concerned” by the message on peace talks sent by Trump, as it followed the logic of “a 19th-century concert of powers: we’ll have a chat and come up with something.”

“The statement we got from president Trump that they spoke not only about the war, but also other things… it is somewhat strange. [The idea of them] talking about artificial intelligence and so on, while [we are] thinking about the images of the Bucha massacre is somewhat hair-raising.”

Szłapka insisted, however, that these comments from Washington should “motivate” Europe to push and do more, starting from securing a seat at the table for the peace talks.

Jakub Krupa

The meeting is now behind the closed doors (oh to be a fly on the wall!).

The next time we will hear from them will be around 12:25 CET (11:25 GMT), when Nato’s secretary general Rutte and Ukraine’s defence minister Umerov are expected to make some remarks together.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at other events in Europe.

French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu strikes a similar tone, cautioning against “peace through weakness,” which he warns could have dramatic consequences, opposite to the aim of bringing peace to Europe.

He says that while it’s “historically true” that Nato has been the most important military alliance, the real question is whether it will still be in 10-15 years, given how the world is changing with new threats emerging and making sure it will should be the focus of discussions.

He stresses the need to increase defence spending, saying its a debate with foregone conclusion – just needs to be done now.

“This is a great moment of truth” for Nato, he says.

German defence minister Boris Pistorius has been speaking to the media, too.

He says that if Putin is serious about peace talks – and he says there are doubts about it – he should show it by pausing attacks on Ukraine.

He also says that Europe must be involved in any negotiations, particularly if Trump expects European allies to play a peacekeeping role in any future arrangement, as suggested by defence secretary Hegseth.

Speaking frankly, he then adds it would have been better if the US had not given concessions to Russia before the negotiations even started, pointing to the question of Ukrainian membership of Nato or any territorial losses.

He says that a quick peace deal would not necessarily resolve all worries about Russia’s increasingly assertive policy in the region, as he warns that Europeans would not be just able to “sit back and relax.”

He cautions against overly celebratory response to the peace talks announcement as he says that Putin keeps provoking Europe and remains a threat.

He says that while accepting stark geopolitical realities Hegseth spoke about, he specifically warned him against withdrawing US involvement from Europe.

Pistorius is also asked about who should represent Europe in any talks, and he floats the idea of Germany taking part, but says it is for others to decide – but insists that a European voice needs to be at the table.

… and here are early comments from Canadian defence minister Bill Blair:

We met as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group … we had a very important and frank discussion about our unity and support.

Canada is resolved that we will be there for Ukraine to ensure a just and a durable peace. …

I think…over the past almost three years the alliance has been remarkably strong and resolved to provide Ukraine with the tools they need to defend themselves against the illegal invasion that was perpetrated against that country. That resolve remains.

But we are also watching very carefully. We have got the ongoing discussions between the president and Mr Putin. It is essential from our perspective that Ukraine must be part of that negotiation and we are going to continue to support them to be in the strongest possible position.

UK defence secretary John Healey, who chaired yesterday’s Ukraine Defence Contact Group, also has been speaking to the media.

This is what he said:

They are the frontline of freedom, and our job is … to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for any talk.

We will be continuing these discussions as Nato allies, and you will see new announcements of support for Ukraine through Nato.

We have seen the calls from president Trump overnight. We all want to see a durable peace and no return to conflict and aggression, and let’s not forget. Russia remains a threat well beyond Ukraine.

My message will be there can be no negotiation about Ukraine without Ukraine, and Ukraine’s voice must be at the heart of any talks.

Ever a diplomat, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte opted for an art of understatement saying “clearly a lot happened yesterday,” and admitting this “will be debated today and over the coming days and weeks.”

But he tried to look for positives, stressing that “there is also a clear convergence emerging that we all want peace in Ukraine, rather sooner than later.”

“We all want Ukraine to be in the best possible position when those talks start to make sure they can be concluded successfully,” he added.

“It is crucial that whatever comes out of these talks is durable and enduring. … We cannot have Putin again trying to capture a square mile of Ukraine in the future,” he said.

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth has just been speaking to reporters before today’s Nato defence ministers meeting in Brussels.

He said that the Russian aggression on Ukraine was “a factory reset for Nato,” and a moment of “realisation that this alliance needs to be robust, strong, and real.”

“That is why president Trump has called for increased defence spending across the board for Nato, for European countries to recognise this is an urgent, real threat to the continent and this aggression needs to be a wake up call,” he said.

He says that standing up to Russian aggression is “an important European responsibility.”

He praises Trump as “the best negotiator on the planet” for bringing both sides to the table in pursuit of peace.

But he gets confronted by reporters with suggestions that the rapid push to peace and talks with Putin could be seen as amounting to a betrayal of Ukraine.

“That is your language, not mine. Certainly not a betrayal,” he insists.

“There is no betrayal; there is a recognition that the whole world and the US is invested in peace, in a negotiated peace,” he says.

Morning opening: What’s next for Europe?

Jakub Krupa

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth is set to meet dozens of his counterparts at a Nato meeting in Brussels, a day after the US president, Donald Trump, said he had spoken to Russia’s Vladimir Putin about negotiating an end to the war.

Trump said he had spoken for more than an hour with Putin and that the two men expect to meet in person in Saudi Arabia soon. He said he later spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskyy and denied that he was “freezing out” the Ukrainian president.

Zelenskyy – at least in public – offered support for the talks, saying he and Trump had held a “meaningful” conversation by phone. “No one wants peace more than Ukraine,” he wrote.

But the development came just hours after Hegseth told an international meeting of Ukraine’s backers on Wednesday not only that Kyiv could not realistically hope to return to previous borders or join Nato – a sign of things to come from Trump later – but also that the US was no longer “primarily focused” on European security.

So the key question for Europe is: what next?

When asked if any European countries would be involved in peace talks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “I don’t have any European nations who are involved currently to read out for you.”

This is exactly the nightmare scenario that Zelenskyy explicitly warned Europe against during his World Economic Forum speech last month.

“It is not clear whether Europe will even have a seat when the war against our country ends. … We are deeply grateful to Europe for all the support … but will president Trump listen to Europe, or will he negotiate with Russia, China, without Europe?,” he asked.

We heard a lot of statements from European countries overnight insisting that no decisions can be made without Ukraine, and that the priority should now be on putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position before these talks start.

But during this morning’s meeting in Nato, there will be lots of questions asked as to what else can be done among European partners – or if it is too late now.

It’s Thursday, 13 February 2025, and this is Europe live. It’s Jakub Krupa here.

Good morning.