Zelensky and US envoy say Europe will join next Russia talks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Europe would join the next round of negotiations with Russia, the Dutch news agency ANP reported after he met US negotiators in Dublin on Thursday.

The announcement followed a meeting in Moscow between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the two US envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They then travelled to Dublin to see Zelensky.

After the Moscow meeting, Witkoff told Russian state television: “The Europeans will join at the next meeting.” Reuters reported that he described their participation as important because they were US partners.

ANP also reported that Putin was said to have agreed to the presence of a European delegation. But his foreign policy adviser, Yuri Ushakov, while confirming that talks between Russia, Ukraine and the US would continue, did not explicitly confirm that Russia would sit down with European representatives. He criticised Europe’s position on the war.

Earlier on Thursday, Zelensky told the European Political Community summit in Dublin that Europeans were already involved in the process but were not yet directly at the table when Russians were present. He said Europe should become a regular part of the negotiations.

The diplomatic meetings followed two days of US-mediated talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi. The two sides agreed to a major prisoner exchange but remain far apart on issues including territory. Putin also restated his opposition to European troops being deployed in Ukraine after a peace deal.