The first day of #msc2025 was full of speeches, interviews and remarks. This is a summary of what happened yesterday: 🇺🇸 US Vice President JD Vance's address was meant to be a wake-up call for European leaders: "When I look at Europe today, it's sometimes not so clear what happened to some of the Cold War's winners." 🇩🇪 "Diplomacy is not a cage fight." — German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the international community in his opening statement, stressing that Germany will do its part and take on more responsibility in burden-sharing. 🇪🇺 Ursula von der Leyen emphasized the need for Europe to actively shape the geopolitical landscape, strengthen the EU-US partnership, and achieve peace through strength in Ukraine. 🇨🇳 China's Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi spoke about the state of security in a multipolar world, which is "not a historical inevitability [but] also becoming a reality". 🇩🇪 German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius responded to Vice President JD Vance's address: "I would like to explicitly contradict and oppose the statement that VP JD Vance suggested here — that our democracy oppresses and silences minorities." 🇺🇦 Amid talk of a possible peace deal for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the future of US – Ukraine security cooperation with Senators Lindsey Graham, Jeanne Shaheen, Sheldon Whitehouse, and John Cornyn. President Zelenskyy was very clear: "A peace deal can only be considered as such if it is discussed by everybody." 🇪🇺 "This is an hour of Europe. We have to get our act together and stand up." — Our Chairman Christoph Heusgen's opening remarks might as well have set the tone for Saturday and Sunday, where Euro-Atlantic security and regional challenges will take center stage. The second day of #msc2025 already started! Find the agenda, current livestreams and everything you might have missed on our website: https://securityconference.org/en/msc-2025/