Munich, Germany – Volodymyr Zelenskyy has advocated for “the armed forces of Europe” to be created to bolster European security amid threats of US disengagement.

“What about your armed forces?” the Ukrainian President asked in his widely-anticipated address on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, “Are they ready?”

“I really believe that the time has come that the armed forces of Europe must be created,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s military alone cannot guarantee his country’s security, he said – meaning Europe would not only have to significantly increase defence spending.

But he also urged Europe to make its citizens understand the importance of doing so as the US signals it will diminish its role in underwriting European security.

“Let us be honest, now we cannot rule out that America might say no to Europe on issues that might threaten it,” he warned.

Zelenskyy said on Friday that he had told Donald Trump that Vladmir Putin was a “liar” if he said he wanted to do a deal to end the war.

In a speech that drew a long standing ovation from the audience, Zelenskyy also said his country’s intelligence services “have clear intel that this summer Russia plans to send troops to Belarus under the pretext of training exercises.”

Drawing parallels with Russia’s military exercises before their full-scale invasion in February 2022, he warned this could be a sign that Moscow could make an attempt against other neighbouring European countries.

Ukraine’s president also had a clear message for Donald Trump’s supporters, in Europe and beyond.

Asked about Wednesday’s Trump-Putin phone call on stage, Zelenskyy repeated Ukraine’s bottom line:  “We will never accept an agreement that was made behind our backs without us.”

Zelenskyy revealed that Trump did not once say during their call that, Europeans should play a role in the talks, and made a passionate plea for Europe to agree a common position.

“Even those who regularly travel to Mar-A-Lago” must join this European position, Zelenskyy said, in a veiled reference to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán or Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.

Addressing those that “do not like Brussels”, Zelenskyy said: “If it is not Brussels, then it will be Moscow.”