Overview
- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Munich Security Conference that the United States and Europe "belong together," yet he offered no reaffirmation of NATO’s Article 5 and paired his outreach with demands on migration and sharp criticism of the UN.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pleaded for faster deliveries of air‑defense munitions and longer‑range systems, saying every Ukrainian power plant has been damaged and that Kyiv often secures Patriot and NASAMS interceptors only at the last moment.
- Berlin is moving to procure loitering munitions at speed, with initial contracts of about €536 million slated for startups Stark Defence and Helsing and framework deals exceeding €4.3 billion pending late‑February Bundestag budget approval, with first deliveries targeted by year’s end.
- Recent simulations and exercises highlighted capability gaps and reliance on US resolve, including a Hamburg war game that ended with the Suwałki corridor cut and NATO disunity, and the 'Hedgehog 2025' drill that exposed serious counter‑drone weaknesses.
- European officials pushed for greater self‑reliance as EU chief Ursula von der Leyen called to breathe life into the bloc’s mutual‑assistance clause, NATO’s Mark Rutte stressed the indispensability of the US nuclear umbrella, and Germany’s Boris Pistorius criticized US actions he said harmed NATO while urging Europe to lead on conventional forces.