The vice-president ends his somewhat brief speech by saying if American democracy can survive 10 years of climate activist Greta Thunberg "scolding" it, Europe can "survive a few months" of Elon Musk.

Musk, as a reminder, is the head of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) and has emerged as a dominant force in this second administration.

We'll bring you a round-up of the thing Vance had to say in our next post - stay with us.

JD Vance goes on to emphasise the importance of mandates on migration, saying Europe is entering "a crisis of [its] own making".

"If you are afraid of your own people, there is nothing America can do for you," he says. "You cannot win a democratic mandate by censoring your opponents or putting them in jail."

Addressing a topic high on US President Donald Trump's agenda, he says that there's no issue more "urgent" than mass migration.

He describes the rate of migration as at an "all time high" in several countries, saying this is is a result of a series of conscious decisions made by politicians across Europe and the world, over the course of a decade.

Vance next says he's come to the conference with an offer. "There is a new sheriff in town," he says, referring to US President Donald Trump.

The US "may disagree with your views", he goes on, addressing European leaders, but "we will fight for your right to offer them".

Vance says he anticipates topics such as defence budgets will be discussed at the conference in the coming days, and tells those gathered that the US believes European countries must play a "bigger role" in the future of the continent.

He then says it's becoming less clear what Europe is defending itself for.

"What's the positive vision that animates this security compact," he asks. "I believe deeply that there is no security if you are afraid of the voices and opinions that guide your own people."

Image source, Reuters

We're continuing to listen in to JD Vance as he addresses the Munich Security Conference.

The US vice-president goes on to suggest there's been a retreat of "fundamental values" in Europe.

He says it's not clear what has happened to the "Cold War's winners" - giving various examples, including what he describes as Brussels - where the European Commission is based - "shutting down social media during civil unrest".

"In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat," he tells the conference.

• For context: Last year, the European Commission opened formal investigation proceedings into Meta over its handling of some political content. Meta, the owner of Facebook, is one of several tech firms designated "very large online platforms" under the EU bloc's Digital Services Act - a 2023 law which forces platforms to be accountable for everything from misinformation online to child abuse images.

Recounting yesterday's attack in Munich, Vance says he's been so impressed with the city's hospitality even though its people are "reeling" from shock.

The audience applauds as he says the Trump administration is "thinking and praying" for them.

Going on to discuss security, he says the threat he worries most about is "the threat from within".

"We must do more than talk about democratic values - we must live them," he says.

• For context: At least 30 people were injured yesterday, some seriously, when a car was driven into a crowd in Munich, 10 days before Germans vote in federal elections. The driver was a 24-year-old Afghan asylum seeker who has been arrested and is due in court on Friday.

Speaking now is US Vice-President JD Vance, who begins by paying tribute to those affected by the recent suspected car-ramming attack in Munich.

We'll be bringing you the latest news lines as we get them - you can watch him speak live, too, at the top of this page.

Stay tuned.

Image source, Munich Security Conference

We're now hearing from Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, who is talking about the challenges of a "more transactional era in global affairs".

She says Europe can "move mountains" when it adopts an "urgency mentality" but says that approach must be adopted "more permanently".

Turning to US President Donald Trump's policies - the elephant in the room at this conference - she begins by talking about trade, denouncing tariffs as a tax on those who can least afford it, adding that "trade wars make no sense".

She calls for a lasting peace in Ukraine so "the horrors of the last three years are never repeated again" and says it is up to Russian President Vladimir Putin to show he "has given up on trying to destroy Ukraine".

"A failed Ukraine would weaken Europe but it would also weaken the United States," she says in a warning to the White House.

Von der Leyen also tells the summit Ukraine's future "lies here in Europe" and that officials are working on the country's accession to the bloc.

Image source, Reuters

Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte says the focus for European allies should be to make it clear what they can offer to make sure a possible peace deal between Russia and Ukraine lasts.

Speaking to reporters in Munich earlier, he said that a peace deal could start sooner rather than later, and that European countries should "come up with concrete plans" and "create the facts" - that they should "engage in the debate".

"Europeans can do that, it's been done before," he adds.

Rutte also highlights the need for further military and training support towards Ukraine.

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent, in Munich

There is a clear undercurrent to this high-level gathering of world leaders, diplomats, defence officials and spies.

When it comes to how to end the war in Ukraine, Europe is simply not on the same page as America.

President Trump is impatient for a peace deal with Moscow.

But Ukraine and its European allies accuse Washington of giving away the best bargaining chips after the US appeared to rule out all the security guarantees Ukraine had been hoping for.

Ukraine’s President Zelensky has told this conference that Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted and he was opposed to giving up territory to Russia, something President Putin is likely to insist on.

Britain, for its part, is trying to bridge some of the transatlantic gaps.

But as the Trump administration delivers one shock after another that is becoming harder to do by the day.

Image source, Reuters

Defence spending and Ukraine were on the agenda when UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met US Vice-President JD Vance on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference this morning.

Vance told reporters that Lammy agreed that "Europe should take a bigger role in its own security".

And Lammy says the UK is "committed to increasing defence and encourage our friends across Europe to do the same".

He also says the pair have had "important issues to discuss on Ukraine and how we support Ukraine" at "this tough moment".

Remember, the British government has committed to raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP, above the 2% target expected of Nato members.

However, Trump thinks the level should be higher and has previously called for European countries to raise it to 5% - a position his defence chief Pete Hegseth reiterated this week.

Image source, Getty Images

World leaders are gathering in Germany this weekend for the annual Munich Security Conference, there's a lot at stake here, as our security correspondent Frank Gardner explains.

Let's bring you up to speed on what's been happening so far on the opening day of the conference:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived, and used his first news conference to say his talks so far with Trump are "definitely not enough to form a plan" for peace - Trump has spoken with both the leaders of Russia and Ukraine this week
• Zelensky is scheduled to meet US Vice-President JD Vance later today and this morning he has also spoken to UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who renewed the country's support to Kyiv "for as long as it’s needed"
• Moscow has said it isn't sending a delegation to Munich, despite claims from Trump that US, Ukrainian and Russian officials would meet this weekend
• Meanwhile in Poland, new US defence chief Pete Hegseth said Europe must not assume that an American military presence on the continent "will last forever" as he encouraged higher military spending

Stay with us throughout the day and we'll continue to bring you the latest from Munich.

Image source, EPA

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius has criticised the US approach to dealing with Russia, saying any negotiations to end the war in Ukraine must involve Europeans.

"It's obvious that Europeans can't be involved in securing peace that they haven't been involved in negotiating," Pistorius says.

On the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Pistorius argues that taking Ukraine’s Nato membership off the table and making territorial concessions to Moscow was a mistake, adding that Russian leader Vladimir Putin had “not budged an inch”.

Referring to the US offer as “clumsy,” Pistorius adds: "It would have been much better to talk about possible Nato membership and territorial changes at the negotiating table."

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

Image source, BBC/Matthew Goddard

Malokaterynivka sits just 15km (nine miles) north of the front line in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region.

Here, villagers gather for the funeral of a local soldier. Half of the graves in the cemetery are freshly dug.

The ceremony can't last more than 25 minutes because of the threat of artillery. Mourners flinch and duck for cover when his comrades fire off a gun salute.

"I don't have hope for a ceasefire," says the soldier's widow, Natalya, who nevertheless wants to be proved wrong.

"They just keep sending more and more of our boys to the front. If only they could find some way to end it."

• Read James Waterhouse's full story: 'Trump wants peace. Ukrainians fear what that might look like'

Image source, Getty Images

An adviser to Ukrainian President Zelensky’s chief of staff warns that if Ukraine isn't supported by the international community, Russia will launch similar attacks against Nato territory.

"And if our friends understand this, we will have their support," Serhiy Leshchenko tells the BBC World Service's Newsday programme.

The political advisor says Ukraine is "defending the rules of the game" of global institutions and security established after World War Two.

"If Ukraine isn't supported, you'll pay a much higher price in the future," Leshchenko says, adding that there's "no other country that wants the end of this war more than Ukraine".

"But we're looking for security guarantees," he says.

'Don't assume US presence in Europe is forever'published at 11:22 Greenwich Mean Time 14 February

11:22 GMT 14 February

Will Vernon
Reporting from Warsaw

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Now over to Poland, where US defence chief Pete Hegseth has been speaking at a press conference after talks with his Polish counterpart.

He stands by his contentious comments in Brussels earlier this week that Ukraine joining Nato is "unlikely" as that any return to the country’s pre-2014 borders.

But Hegseth says the terms of any peace negotiations to end the fighting in Ukraine are up to Trump, not him.

The main message Hegseth has brought here is that European countries need to spend more on defence.

Poland, he says, is a "model ally" as it leads by example. Remember, Warsaw has massively increased defence spending in recent years, with around 5% of its GDP now being spent on the military.

Hegseth says other European countries should take a leaf out of Poland’s book.

He ends by saying that Europe must not assume that an American military presence on the continent "will last forever", adding that "now is the time to invest" in military capabilities.

Image source, Reuters

Sticking with Zelensky's news conference in Munich, the Ukrainian leader reiterates his claim that Russia carried out a "very dangerous" strike on the Chernobyl nuclear plant overnight - which the Kremlin denies.

A drone flew too low to be detected by radars, he says, adding the alleged attack was deliberately timed to coincide with the start of the Munich conference. "Putin definitely does not want peace," he says.

Zelensky also claims intelligence shows Russia is preparing for a war against Nato next year.

On upcoming talks with US Vice President JD Vance, Zelensky says: "There are some decisions which can be only on the level of presidents."

Volodymyr Zelensky says previous discussions with US President Donald Trump so far are "definitely not enough to form a plan" for peace.

He, however, adds that signals coming from America are "strong", albeit "varied", adding he needs to have further talks with US Vice President JD Vance. The pair are set to meet today.

Minutes after arriving at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky immediately tackled questions on the future of his country, saying Ukraine wants to be in Nato and that it won't recognise occupied territories as Russian.

"We will never recognise occupied territories as Russian," Zelensky says at a press conference at the Munich Security Conference.

"We want to be in Nato, yes. We trust Nato's security guarantees. I think this is the cheapest option for everyone," Zelensky says, adding Europe would need to unite around Ukraine to protect itself.

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, Getty Images

Vladimir Putin is not there, and the organisers of the Munich Security Conference say there is no Russian delegation representing him either, despite what President Trump suggests.

But now that Trump has said he's talked to Russia's leader and that peace talks on the war in Ukraine will start soon, he is very much on people's minds in Munich, yet again.

It was back in 2007 that Putin stunned the world with a speech to the Munich conference that attacked the US and rejected the post-Cold War world order. A year later he invaded Georgia.

In 2022, Munich hosted Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, five days before Putin sent troops across his borders in a bid to capture Kyiv. Zelensky's speech to the conference via video-link the following year pleaded for more Western weapons to fight Russia, saying "Goliath must lose".

Last year's event was also overshadowed by Putin, when Yulia Navalnaya addressed delegates hours after the death of her opposition leader husband in a Russian jail. Putin and his "horrific regime" should be fought by the international community, she said.

Image source, Getty Images

There will be no Russian delegation at the Munich security conference, according to Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

There had been some uncertainty over whether a Kremlin delegation would attend.

While they had not been expected to, Donald Trump's remark that talks could be held between Ukrainian and Russian officials at the summit sowed some doubt.

However, neither Moscow or Kyiv had given any indication they expected talks to take place - and the BBC was told earlier that no Russian officials were in attendance.

Daniel Wittenberg
Reporting from Munich

Image source, Getty Images

President Zelensky has just arrived at the Munich Security Conference.

He walked in through the front entrance of the Bayerischer Hof Hotel flanked by security.

The expectation was that he would have met US Vice President JD Vance by now, but that bilateral has reportedly been delayed.

The Ukrainian president is due to appear on the main conference stage later this afternoon.