War in Ukraine: End of the sidelining of Europeans in negotiations with Russia

The Europeans will be able to have a little more influence in the discussions to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. They will in fact be present at the “next meeting” of the “negotiations”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Thursday evening after meeting Donald Trump’s emissaries in Dublin.

“We cannot conclude this agreement” between Moscow and kyiv “without the Europeans being at the negotiating table,” agreed Jared Kushner, one of the two American envoys, who took this step on an Irish air base with the other special envoy, Steve Witkoff, after meeting earlier in the day with Vladimir Putin in Moscow. “I think we can achieve this with President Putin,” he added.

A long diplomatic ballet started in Abu Dhabi

Europeans have long asked to be included in any discussion, believing that the resolution of the conflict concerns the security of the continent. But until now, they were excluded, by Moscow, from the talks between Russia and Ukraine. Thursday's announcement, however, puts even more pressure on the Europeans, who have been struggling for months to agree on the name of a representative for these negotiations.

The Dublin interview is also part of the long diplomatic ballet of the week devoted to the war in Ukraine. Before Moscow, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff participated in two days of Ukrainian-Russian talks in Abu Dhabi under the auspices of the United States.

Putin inflexible

During their visit to the Kremlin on Thursday, Vladimir Putin affirmed that he would remain inflexible on his maximalist demands to end the conflict. The Russian president also insisted that any deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine would mean “the continuation of the war”.

Moscow above all promotes discussions relating primarily to the vast question of security in Europe. But kyiv and its European supporters are opposed to a redistribution of zones of influence between Washington, Moscow and Beijing, and are demanding negotiations to first end the war.

Our articles on the War in Ukraine

Russia currently occupies a little more than 19% of Ukrainian territory, and since 2022 has been demanding the annexation, rejected by kyiv and the international community, of four Ukrainian regions of which it does not control the entirety: Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia and Kherson.