U.S. and European interests are ‘intertwined,’ Secretary of State Rubio

The U.S. has no intention of abandoning its deep alliance with Europe and wants the region to succeed, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday.

“We care deeply about your future and ours,” Rubio told the Munich Security Conference (MSC).

“We want Europe to be strong,” he said. “We believe that Europe must survive, because the two great wars of the last century serve, for us, as history’s great reminder, that ultimately, our destiny is, and will always be, intertwined with yours.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has frequently criticized Europe for being too reliant on the U.S. for its security and has pushed NATO allies to boost defense spending. His pursuit of ownership of Greenland, a Danish territory, has also rattled European leaders in recent months.

“We do not need to abandon the system of international cooperation we authored, and we don’t need to dismantle the global institutions of the old order that together we built. But these must be reformed. These must be rebuilt,” Rubio said.

The U.S.’s top diplomat told the gathering of European leaders that American leadership has succeeded in resolving thorny issues such as the Israel-Gaza conflict and made progress in ending Russia’s war with Ukraine which multilateral organizations including the U.N. have so far failed to.

“The United Nations still has tremendous potential to be a tool for good in the world, but we cannot ignore that today, on the most pressing matters before us, it has no answers and has played virtually no role. It could not solve the war in Gaza,” Rubio said. “Instead, it was American leadership that freed captives from barbarians and brought about a fragile truce. It has not solved the war in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his gratitude to the U.S. for its help in Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

“I am grateful to every American heart that was helping us no matter what. Thank you. Without you, Americans, Europeans and everyone who stands with us, it would have been very, very difficult to hold on,” Zelenskyy said to applause.

But he criticized the administration of Trump’s predecessor for being slow to ramp up military aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy also had harsh words for Iran’s government, which he accused of supplying the drones Russia uses to attack Ukrainian territory.

“Ukraine does not share a border with Iran and we have never had a conflict of interests with the Iranian regime,” Zelenskyy said. “But the Iranian Shahed drones they sold to Russia are killing, especially, our people, Ukrainians, and destroying our infrastructure.”

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte,…