Trump’s envoys will pressure Russia regarding Europe’s participation in peace talks — Politico
Kyiv • UNN
Kushner and Witkoff want to involve Europe in talks on the war in Ukraine following a meeting in Abu Dhabi. Russia opposes its participation.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will pressure Russia to allow Europe to join future talks on the continent’s security. Politico reports, according to UNN.
Donald Trump’s envoys are pressuring Russia to allow Europe to join the next round of talks aimed at resolving the war in Ukraine,
Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff “will make the case for Europe to have a direct role in future talks, as they mediate the first trilateral discussions with Russia and Ukraine since February in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday,” the officials said.
European governments and EU institutions “will likely not have to take long to decide whom they want to see at the negotiating table on their behalf.” Kushner and Witkoff, it was noted, “want to speed up the pace of the talks, and for this week’s meeting to be the last without Europe’s full participation,” the same officials said.
“We need Europe at the negotiating table. So our proposal is to bring the Europeans into the discussion after this trilateral meeting,” one official said.
The officials welcomed the fact that the leaders of Finland and Norway directly called Kremlin head Vladimir Putin on October 27 and said that more active engagement was necessary. “We need many more European discussions with Russia so that they can hear what we hear, and so that the message they convey to us can be delivered directly to Russia,” the source told the publication.
The question of who speaks for Europe—and whether Ukraine’s European allies should speak with Putin at all—has caused deep divisions. EU leaders will discuss the issue at an informal summit in Dublin later this week, the publication reports.
Since Trump returned to the White House last year, EU officials and diplomats have worried that they would be sidelined while the United States conducts direct talks with Russia on ending the war.
Senior European officials are due to arrive in Abu Dhabi for meetings this week, but although Kushner and Witkoff are expected to consult with them, they will not participate in the main talks because of Russia’s objections. Those attending include security advisers from the United Kingdom, Germany and France, as well as officials from Italy, NATO, the European Commission and the European Council.
U.S. officials said that “the first day of talks will focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and a potential redesign of Europe’s security architecture. The second day will be devoted to territorial issues—where borders and boundaries should be drawn—and other matters.”
European officials “fear that Trump may be preparing to agree to Putin’s longstanding demands to reduce NATO’s influence in the region.” But U.S. officials insisted that “NATO will still be a central component of Europe’s collective defense, while refusing to back away from the need for a fundamental rethinking of the continent’s relationship with Russia,” the publication reports.
“Obviously, something is not working,” the same official said. Europeans have “a lot of baggage” regarding the rethinking of the security architecture, as Russia had proposed various changes in the past and previous agreements had failed, the official said. “We need to build something new that works today,” he said.
Officials said NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had been actively involved in discussions with the U.S. administration and in exchanging ideas on reforms.
“Regarding the most difficult issue for Ukraine—the fate of the territory occupied by Russia—both sides demonstrated ‘flexibility’ privately,” the officials said. The goal of this week’s talks is “to maintain the momentum of recent weeks, not to achieve a final ceasefire,” they added.
"But the two main areas of the negotiations — territory and future security arrangements for Ukraine and Europe — must proceed together and be resolved together," the American side said.