Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's envoy and son-in-law, said yesterday, Thursday, that Russia and Ukraine have agreed to expand the scope of the next round of talks to include European countries.
He added that Washington is working to achieve what Kushner described as “the largest prisoner exchange” in the war.
“We are working to achieve what will be the largest prisoner exchange of the war, which will likely lead to the reunification of thousands of people with their families,” Kushner wrote on the “X” platform, after talks aimed at ending the war.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham expected, on Thursday, that negotiations to conclude new agreements with the European Union would continue until the last minute, ahead of a scheduled summit with the bloc's senior officials next week.
“I will do my best in the coming days to ensure the completion of this agreement,” Burnham said after an expanded meeting that included dozens of European leaders in Dublin.
He added: “I think that the negotiations will continue until the last moments, as they are likely to become more difficult, but we will not turn our back on them.”
The summit that Burnham will hold in Brussels on November 20 with the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, is considered an initial test of his pledge to strengthen relations with the European Union, more than a decade after Britain voted for Brexit.
Burnham, who took power in July, succeeded in overcoming the taboos in Britain's divisive internal debate over the European Union, by raising the possibility that Britain might one day apply to rejoin the bloc.
But currently, the first steps in rapprochement seem more modest, as the two parties seek to conclude three agreements, the first related to easing bureaucratic procedures for food exports, the second on emissions, and the third on youth.
These agreements were in the works long before Burnam moved to 10 Downing Street.
But officials warn that some obstacles still remain, most notably the European Union's demand that London allow European students to enroll in British universities at reduced fees.
European Commission President von der Leyen wrote in a post after her meeting with the British Prime Minister: “Let us make it an ambitious summit with tangible results.”
She added: “More opportunities for youth, facilitating agricultural food trade, and enhancing cooperation on economic security.”
Burnham hopes that these agreements will contribute to revitalizing Britain's economy, which supports his goal of reducing the cost of living.
European Union ambassadors held a new round of talks on the draft summit statement on Wednesday, and are scheduled to return to discuss it in the days before the summit.
A previous draft, according to Agence France-Presse, allows young people from the European Union and Britain to reside for up to three years in the territory of the other party, for purposes such as work, study or travel.
At the same time, Britain is urging the European Union not to exclude it from its “Made in Europe” industrial initiative.
Opinion polls regularly show that most Britons regret leaving the European Union.
A European diplomat, who requested to remain anonymous, considered that the signals Burnum is sending are “very positive, even if no one believes that the United Kingdom will join again in our lifetime.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed on Thursday evening that the Europeans will attend the upcoming negotiations aimed at ending the war with Russia, following his meeting with American envoys in Dublin.
In turn, US presidential envoy Jared Kushner stressed that “we cannot conclude this agreement” between Moscow and Kiev “without the presence of the Europeans at the negotiating table.”
He added in statements to reporters alongside Zelensky at an air base in Ireland: “I believe we are able to achieve this with President Vladimir Putin,” whom he met with the other American envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow earlier Thursday.
Europeans have long demanded their inclusion in any negotiations to settle their continent's bloodiest conflict since World War II. However, until now, they have remained excluded in light of Moscow's refusal to attend.
But the announcement also increases pressure on the Europeans, who have been facing difficulty for months in agreeing on the name of a unified representative in these negotiations.
The Dublin meeting comes within the framework of the intense diplomatic activity witnessed this week, dedicated to the war in Ukraine.
Before Moscow, Kushner and Witkov co-sponsored two days of Russian-Ukrainian talks in Abu Dhabi in search of a way to end the conflict.
During their reception in the Kremlin on Thursday, Putin stressed that he would not back down from his maximum demands, proposing at the same time a truce in a city located on the battle front.
Moscow is pushing to expand the scope of talks on the war in Ukraine to include discussion of security arrangements in Europe in general.
But Kiev and European leaders warned against reaching a new “Yalta,” in reference to the agreement that followed World War II and divided the continent into spheres of influence, and stressed the need for the talks to focus first on ending the war in Ukraine.
Upon his arrival in Dublin on Wednesday to participate in a European summit, Zelensky spoke of a “good chance” to achieve a “result” before 2027.
However, Putin stuck to his demands related to controlling parts of Ukraine that Russia had declared annexed, and ruled out agreeing to the deployment of foreign peacekeeping forces in Ukraine.
Although such meetings are usually held behind closed doors, the Kremlin chose to broadcast a lengthy portion of the opening dialogue between Putin and the American envoys on television.
Putin rejected proposals to establish buffer or demilitarized zones between Russian and Ukrainian sites, saying: “For us, there is only one dividing line, which is the state border. Because then it will be clear and clear: “We are here and you are there.”
He also renewed his opposition to the deployment of foreign forces in Ukraine after the end of the war, stressing that Moscow would consider them a “legitimate target,” and that their deployment would mean “the continuation of the war.”
The Russian army has controlled large areas of eastern and southern Ukraine since launching its comprehensive attack in 2022, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014, and lands that were under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Moscow officially announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions: Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhya, although it does not control them completely.
Kyiv and the West reject the annexations as illegal and not recognized by the international community.
The Russian army's advance will slow down through 2026.
Putin proposed organizing a “humanitarian mission” in the city of Kostyantinivka, which is witnessing battles in eastern Ukraine, and which Moscow announced control of in July.
“There are still about 400 to 500 civilians” in the city, he said, suggesting “repeat what we did” in Oleshki, which is under Russian control.
The proposal is based on a short-term truce that last month allowed hundreds of stranded and hungry residents to leave the Russian-controlled city of Oleshki in southern Ukraine.
But Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said it was "clear what they want in Kostyantinivka."
He added: “In Oleshki, they brought in equipment and exchanged forces under the guise of a humanitarian operation.”
Meanwhile, overnight Russian strikes hit a residential building in Kiev, killing one person.
Zelensky said Thursday that the Ukrainian army faces new “systematic” restrictions on the “Starshield” satellite Internet service, which is run by SpaceX, owned by Elon Musk, and plays a major role in communications on the front lines.
In St. Petersburg, Putin's hometown, a car bomb explosion killed a Russian soldier, in the latest episode of a series of operations suspected of being assassinations of military figures inside Russia.
The large-scale Russian attack in Ukraine since February 2022 has led to the destruction of the country and the deaths of hundreds of thousands on both sides, making it the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II.
Officially, the positions of the two sides are still very far apart, as Moscow in particular demands the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the entire Donetsk region, while Kiev refuses to withdraw from this fortified region.
Ukraine demands security guarantees strong enough to deter Moscow from attacking it again.
