US pushes to include Europe in Ukraine-Russia peace talks
US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at a military base near Dublin on Thursday, after Kushner and Witkoff had visited the Kremlin and met Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks produced no announced ceasefire or other concrete step toward ending Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Their main reported outcome was a push to bring European negotiators into future peace discussions.
Zelenskyy said Europe would have a voice at the negotiating table rather than being kept on the sidelines, as it was during recent trilateral talks between US, Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi. He argued that European involvement was essential because the war is taking place in Europe, and because Ukraine’s future EU membership, security guarantees and postwar prosperity are directly connected to the continent.
Kushner said both sides had agreed to expand the next round of negotiations to include European partners, allowing broader European security arrangements to be discussed alongside the territorial dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Moscow, however, has not confirmed that it accepts the participation of European negotiators. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said Europe’s position had already been made clear, accusing European countries of seeking to join the talks while saying they must decide whether they want peace or continued war. Hopes for a rapid agreement were also weakened by Putin’s refusal to retreat from Russia’s territorial demands and his rejection of foreign peacekeeping troops in Ukraine.
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