With tripods and light-stands bashing the legs of world leaders, or at the very least their staff, TV crews squeeze up and down staircases overloaded with suits and military braids at an annual security conference in Munich.
Speeches and panel sessions are the main public spectacle inside a luxury hotel surrounded by tight security, but the real business takes place in private – behind the closed doors of multiple rooms on various floors.
Accessing the meeting rooms or at least attempting to catch a few words with officials shuttling in and out of them offers the best chance of gauging the high-stakes diplomacy going on – especially this year as Donald Trump‘s disruptive force shatters Europe’s order.
But attempting to squeeze along corridors bursting at the seams with chattering delegates makes every trip to a different room an uncomfortable sweaty workout.
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As for what to be looking out for, a brief belief that Russia was sending a delegation to meet the Americans and the Ukrainians sparked a flurry of frenzied searching by journalists on Friday – the opening day of the three-day gathering.
Mr Trump had claimed such talks would be taking place in Munich.
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But such a prospect rapidly faded after Moscow and Kyiv said that was not happening.
Instead, the movements of the US vice president and other American envoys were the primary focus, closely followed by Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then the Europeans.
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JD Vance’s keynote speech in the main hall was a prime attraction until he opened his mouth and started berating Europeans over the state of their economy, accusing Germany, Sweden, the UK, and others of restricting free speech and censoring social media posts.
The words prompted a muted smattering of applause, while the majority of the audience of ministers and military chiefs looked sullen, including most notably Boris Pistorious, the German defence minister, who later rebuked Mr Vance for his comments.
Ukraine‘s president will have his moment on the big stage on Saturday, but he has been working the rooms, meeting top ministers and speaking to the press.
He made clear his desire for the choreography of any peace talks and said he had no immediate plans to talk with any Russians.
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“First of all, I don’t want to meet just with Russia, just to meet for what? No. We see the order of meetings… is the United States, Europe, then Russia – to be ready for this meeting,” Mr Zelenskyy said, speaking in English.
He also offered a sense of the scale of any international force that might be needed to secure the peace in the event of a ceasefire with Vladimir Putin – and said he wanted the US to be involved, even though the defence secretary has ruled out US boots on the ground.
“If we’re talking about a contingent, I have a map that shows 110,000 foreigners. I’m being honest with you,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
“Ideally, our partners who are professionals at sea – Britain, the Nordics, etc – if they are experts, it would be best if they were in the sea,” he said.
“That’s how it should be, to be completely candid. So yes, we want the United States to be involved – don’t we? We really do.”
Later in the day, in another room under tight security, Mr Zelenskyy and his top team sat across the table from Mr Vance as well as Marco Rubio, the secretary of state and Keith Kellogg, Mr Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia.
The Ukrainian leader is having to perform the most delicate of balancing acts – staying close to the Americans but also sticking to his red lines when it comes to concessions to Moscow.
“We have good conversation today, our first meeting – not last,” Mr Zelenskyy told watching cameras.
“We need to speak more, to work more, and to prepare the plan, how to stop Putin and finish the war.”
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Mr Vance repeated his boss’s ambition.
“We want the war to come to a close, we want the killing to stop, but we want to achieve a durable, lasting peace, not the kind of peace that’s going to have Eastern Europe in conflict just a couple years down the road,” he said.
But there remains a worry that this is exactly what might happen.
European allies are also concerned that they are being sidelined and Ukraine’s future put at risk because of the noises that have been coming out of the White House about Vladimir Putin, his war in Ukraine and whose fault it was.
Miguel Berger, Germany’s ambassador to London, is one of the many thousands of delegates who have gathered for the three-day Munich Security Conference.
He set out Berlin’s concerns about the US when it comes to Ukraine.
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“We are worried about several things,” the ambassador said.
“First of all, I must say we were quite surprised about some of the comments which were made at the NATO defence ministers meeting.
“I think it’s not very wise to say upfront which things you [won’t] ask from Putin or whether you might concede.”
He added: “So that’s why it is so urgent to use now the Munich Security Conference to talk about all these topics, how we are going to approach such talks, and what the role of the Europeans and the Ukraine games will be that.”
