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US secretary of state Marco Rubio has skipped a meeting with European leaders on the war in Ukraine, in a move seen by European capitals as signalling Washington’s waning interest in involving them in its efforts to solve the conflict.
Rubio was set to attend the meeting with leaders from countries including Germany, Poland, Finland and the European Commission in Munich on Friday afternoon, but cancelled at the last minute because of scheduling conflicts.
“The secretary won’t be attending the Berlin Format meeting on Ukraine given the number of meetings he has happening at the same time,” a US official said. “He’s engaging on Russia-Ukraine in many of his meetings here in Munich.”
One European official said the cancellation was “insane”. It came as the Trump administration increasingly distances itself from its European allies and is seeking to push Ukraine towards a settlement with Russia to end the almost four-year-long war.
The meeting lacked substance without US participation, a second European official told the FT.
Rubio did hold talks with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. A German official said that Ukraine was the central topic of discussion between Merz and the US secretary of state. They also spoke about the status of negotiations with Russia and continued support for Kyiv, particularly military aid.
Other issues included Nato and Europe’s role within it. Rubio commended Germany’s efforts to strengthen the military alliance, the official said.
After Munich, Rubio will travel to Budapest to meet Hungary’s strongman premier Viktor Orbán, the EU’s most pro-Russian leader, who has blocked efforts to deepen support for Kyiv.
A senior state department official said the Hungarian visit was aimed at further “strengthening” ties with a European country that, in contrast with the EU mainstream, shared the Trump administration’s vision for peace in Ukraine.
Rubio is set to address the Munich Security Conference, which for years has acted as an annual barometer of the state of the transatlantic alliance, on Saturday morning.
European officials are nervously awaiting the address for signals on President Donald Trump’s evolving stance towards the US’s historic allies, weeks after he threatened — and then withdrew that threat — to invade Greenland.
“It’s confirming our allies’ worst fears. They’re on their own . . . they’re reluctantly coming to accept that when Trump says Europe is on its own, he means it,” US Democratic senator Peter Welch told the FT.
“People have such a hard time here believing that the country that played this role in liberating Europe and built the Marshall Plan and alliances is turning its back. And doing it by accommodating Russia.”
Additional reporting by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany in Munich