I was born in former Czechoslovakia. For me, Munich holds a deep resonance.

In 1938, through the Munich Agreement, European powers attempted to prevent the war by ceding Western Czechoslovakia to Nazi Germany. The infamous blueprint for “about us without us”. We know how it ended.

In 2007, at the Munich Security Conference, Vladimir Putin made a troubling troubling speech, framing NATO expansion as a hostile act against Russia. He made his intentions clear, signalling his departure from the West. We did not take his words seriously.

Now, at Munich Security Conference 2025, we learned that Europe may be absent from the table where decisions about Ukraine’s fate — and by extension, the future of European security architecture — will be made.

I listened to President Zelensky’s powerful speech, in which he made one thing absolutely clear: Ukraine cannot accept any agreements made without its participation. He warned against repeating the mistakes of the past, when decisions about the fate of sovereign states were made without their presence.

To Ukrainians I want to say this: Europe has stood with you, stands with you, and will continue to stand with you.

The positions of EU leaders at MSC 2025 leave no room for doubt:

“It is clear that any agreement made behind our backs will not work. You need Europeans; you need Ukrainians,” — Kaja Kallas.

“Ukraine seeks a just and lasting peace, one that ensures the horrors of recent years are never repeated,” declared Ursula von der Leyen.

“There will be no credible and successful negotiations, no lasting peace, without Ukraine and without the EU,” — António Costa.

For three years, Ukraine has fought daily for the kind of mornings Europeans will wake up to in the future. Ukrainians are not only defending their homeland. They are defending the freedom of all of Europe.

In recent days, I was in Lviv. I attended the funerals of Ukrainian soldiers: Yuriy and Mykhailo, one of whom was not even 30 years old. I saw the devastated faces of their loved ones. I felt the sorrow. touched the horrors of war. But I also felt the unbreakable determination of Ukrainians to defend their country.

Dear Ukraine, Europe has stood by you, stands by you, and will continue to stand by you.

The world has changed, bringing both risks and opportunities. These difficult times are an opportunity for us to not only support you, but also take our security and our future into our own hands.