Live: Rubio addresses Munich security conference as European leaders call for US reset

Rattled by Trump, European leaders call for a ‘strong Europe’

Bruised by Trump’s designs on Greenland and his often hostile comments about America’s traditional bedrock allies, European leaders in Munich have pledged to shoulder more of the burden of shared NATO defences.

Key leaders have pushed the message that this is essential for Europe to counter a hostile Russia, with NATO chief Mark Rutte saying that “a strong Europe in a strong NATO means that the transatlantic bond will be stronger than ever”.

“This is the right time for a strong Europe,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who stressed on Friday that the continent was “clear in the support of Ukraine” and “building its own architecture of security”.

Click on the player below for analysis from our international affairs editor Kethevane Gorjestani.

Russian strike kills Odesa woman, Zelensky to address Munich conference

An overnight Russian drone strike on Odesa set a residential building on fire and killed a woman inside, the governor of the southern Ukrainian region has said.

Northeast of the Black Sea port region, a barrage on Zaporizhzhia region in the past 24 hours killed at least one person and wounded three others, regional military chief Ivan Fedorov said.

The latest deadly attacks come as US and European leaders gather in Munich, with how to end the war in Ukraine high on the agenda. 

A German government source said Chancellor Friedrich Merz and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed “Ukraine, the status of negotiations with Russia and further support for the country, particularly in terms of military aid”.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has been in Munich since Friday and meeting multiple allies, is expected to address the meeting later today.

UK’s Starmer urges ‘sleeping giant’ Europe to curb dependence on US

British leader Keir Starmer is expected to describe Europe as “a sleeping giant” that must rely less on the US for its defence when he addresses the Munich gathering later today.

Starmer’s office said the UK prime minister will argue that the continent must shift from overdependence on the United States towards a more European NATO.

“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full and remakes the ties that have served us so well,” Starmer is expected to say.

Watch Rubio’s address live

Washington’s top diplomat has begun his address the Munich conference.

You can watch the full speech live on the player below.

Even the US ‘cannot go it alone’, says Germany’s Merz

In his opening address on Friday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz called for the United States and Europe to “repair and revive trans-Atlantic trust together”, warning that even the US isn’t powerful enough to go it alone in an world whose old order has withered.

Merz called for a “new trans-Atlantic partnership”, acknowledging that “a divide, a deep rift” has opened up across the Atlantic.

The German host said that the post-World War II world order, “as imperfect as it was at its best times, no longer exists” today. 

Welcome to our live blog

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to address European leaders in Munich as they try to step up their autonomy in defence while salvaging transatlantic ties badly strained under President Donald Trump.

His highly anticipated speech comes a day after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged “a new transatlantic partnership” and French President Emmanuel Macron called for “a strong Europe” on the first day of the annual security gathering.