Europeans seek Trump's support at G7 summit for peace talks with Russia - Bloomberg
Kyiv • UNN
E3 leaders propose a ceasefire and security guarantees for Ukraine. At the G7 summit, they will ask Trump to support a new negotiations initiative.
European leaders aim to use meetings with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit in France next week to persuade him to support plans for advancing new peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the matter, according to UNN.
Details
The United Kingdom, France, and Germany believe that the momentum in the war has shifted toward Ukraine, creating opportunities for negotiations that would go beyond the conditions that emerged after Trump's summit with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska last year, sources said.
The leaders of the so-called E3 countries want Russia to agree to an immediate ceasefire with the current front line as a "starting point for negotiations" and credible security guarantees for Ukraine, including the deployment of multinational forces. They outlined these proposals in a joint statement with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy following talks in London on Sunday.
Putin has previously refused a ceasefire to allow for peace talks and rejected the presence of European troops in Ukraine, the publication points out, while putting forward demands regarding the Donbas.
Critics of the idea of engaging with Russia now, including some officials from the E3 countries, say that all of this is unlikely to change anytime soon.
However, the E3 sees an opportunity to reclaim a larger role for Europe in shaping the negotiations, as US-led talks have reached a stalemate and Washington has focused on the conflict with Iran.
They want Trump to back their proposals to increase pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table, leading to talks involving officials from Europe, the US, Ukraine, and Russia as early as next month,
As part of these efforts, the UK and the European Union are working on new sanctions to be imposed on Russia in the coming weeks, sources added. They warned that plans are constantly evolving and could change.
Europe also seeks to avoid a repeat of last winter, when Ukrainians endured freezing temperatures without light or heating, as Russia carried out waves of devastating attacks on energy infrastructure.
Ukraine is now in a strong position militarily, politically, and economically, and it is "high time" for Europe to reach out to Putin, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said at a press conference in Helsinki on Wednesday.
"We need to coordinate, we need a common agenda," Stubb said. "I think it's important that we have the big players at the forefront — France, Germany, and the UK."