World leaders gather for Munich Security Conference – Trump invites Russia and Ukraine to a trilateral meeting

A possible peace deal for Ukraine will be first on the table as world leaders gather today for the annual Munich Security Conference.

This follows US President Donald Trump's surprise announcement earlier this week that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed in a phone call to begin talks to end the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said his country should be included in the negotiations - the Kremlin said Ukraine "will participate in one way or another".

Meanwhile, Trump has announced that representatives from the US, Russia and Ukraine will be in Munich for peace talks.

But Russia - which is not officially participating in the conference - has not commented and a senior Ukrainian official said that "talks with the Russians in Munich" are "not expected".

Zelensky will be present and will meet with Trump's Vice President, JD Vance, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Otherwise, created in 1963, the conference is guided by the Munich Rule – “Engage and interact with each other: Don’t lecture or ignore each other.”

These days, the talks focus on issues related to security and defense and include a range of participants such as politicians, academics, and activists.

Last year, news of the death of Alexei Navalny – Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic – broke just hours before the conference.

This year is likely to be dominated once again by Russia-related news, with the conference cast in the long shadow of how the war in Ukraine will progress. /Telegraph/