War in Ukraine: USA: Putin wants to let Europe come to the negotiating table

According to the US, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to allow the Europeans to the negotiating table in Ukraine peace talks. Negotiator Jared Kushner announced on Friday night that there was agreement to include the European partners in the next round of negotiations. It is expected that the schedule and further details will be announced shortly.

US President Donald Trump's son-in-law met the Kremlin chief on Thursday together with his US colleague Steve Witkoff in Moscow. Kushner and Witkoff then traveled to Dublin to speak on the sidelines of a European summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and security advisers from Germany, Italy, France, Ireland and Poland as well as the EU institutions.

There remain significant differences between the positions of Russia and Ukraine, but the progress made is encouraging, Kushner said afterwards: “We have made significant progress in understanding the concerns of both sides, identifying possible solutions and charting a path forward.”

Kushner and Witkoff initially met with representatives from Moscow and Kiev in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday and Wednesday. These were the first direct talks between the warring parties under US mediation in more than eight months. The Europeans were only allowed to be present on the sidelines: they were not invited to the discussions with the Russian delegation.

The new developments could now further heat up the debate about a possible European negotiator - although the next talks are unlikely to take place at top level. At a meeting of around 40 European heads of state and government in Dublin on Thursday, there was no consensus on the issue. EU Council President António Costa said in Ireland that until further notice we should continue to work “as a team” in different formats.

The heads of state and government of the EU states want to discuss further current issues with a view to Ukraine this Friday at an informal meeting following the EPG summit. This should also involve financing further support.

According to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian military has been experiencing significant disruptions to the Starshield satellite service for several days. The entire front as well as Russian-occupied areas are affected, Zelensky said on Telegram. Starshield is the military version of the Starlink satellite communications service from the US company Space X. System restrictions limited the permitted movement speed when using Starshield to 161 kilometers per hour. As a result, Ukrainian defense missiles would not be able to achieve sufficient speed to intercept Russian missiles. This led to some impacts. “This helps the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more precise attacks against Ukraine,” Zelensky said. Ukraine is trying to clarify the reasons for the restriction with the US side.

The EU Commission has described reports of the disruption as extremely worrying. If the reports are confirmed, the disruptions would be unacceptable, said a commission spokesman. Space X must take a consistent approach to providing its services to Ukraine. “Starshield services must be urgently restored so that Ukraine can maintain the communications of its soldiers, protect its citizens and defend its territory.”

According to authorities, drone attacks in Ukraine and Russia have killed and injured several people. Two people died in a Russian attack in the northern Ukrainian region of Sumy, Governor Oleh Hryhorov said on the short message service Telegram. In Rivne in northwestern Ukraine, five people were injured when a Russian drone crashed into a residential building, an authority spokesman said. In the Russian region of Belgorod, which borders Ukraine, a man was killed and four other people injured in a drone attack on Thursday, authorities there reported.

Germany and the vast majority of other European states only want to talk to Russia about key security issues after the end of the Ukraine war. Thirty-nine countries signed a declaration at the European Summit in Dublin saying states support discussions on further risk management and reduction mechanisms that contribute to stability in Europe. But such talks can only take place once peace has been restored.

This includes both military risks and risks that arise from actions below the threshold of armed aggression - such as so-called hybrid threats such as acts of sabotage and disinformation campaigns. In the past, Russia has called for, among other things, a restriction on the NATO presence near its borders.

The text, initiated by France, was published under the title “Declaration on the central principles of European security”. It emphasizes once again that decisions about Ukraine should not be made without Ukraine and that decisions about Europe's security should not be made without the Europeans. It also reiterates the need for robust and credible security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as a number of other well-known positions and principles.

Some European states such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Switzerland did not sign the declaration. Bulgaria was the only EU state to refuse. Reasons were not initially given.

The Europeans will not for now comply with calls to name a single top representative for Ukraine peace talks. After a meeting of around 40 European heads of state and government in Dublin, EU Council President António Costa made it clear that work should continue in different formats until further notice. We work as a team, said Costa in the final press conference.

Accordingly, Germany, France and Great Britain, as the so-called E3, supported by EU and NATO representatives, could retain the lead in contacts with US negotiators Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff. Depending on whether security, financial or economic issues are involved, other actors would also be involved.

Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz also made it clear at the summit of the so-called European Political Community (EPG) that he does not believe it is necessary to determine a single top representative at this point in time. “What matters here now is not people, but rather that Putin is willing to hold talks,” he said. It is important that Russia comes to the table and is ready for talks. Everything else will then fall into place. The question of European participation is being discussed behind closed doors.

Previously, Kushner's statements following the recent direct talks between Moscow and Kiev under US mediation sparked a new debate about Europe's voice in the negotiations. Kushner said: “If Europe could identify a person to speak on its behalf, that would be a greater success than getting the Russians to participate.”

The son-in-law of US President Donald Trump was alluding to the fact that the Europeans do not have a clearly defined negotiator and have not always acted in a fully coordinated manner. This always causes discussions within Europe. This was the case most recently when Finland's President Alexander Stubb and Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin on their own initiative at the end of October.

Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, among others, expressed her anger about this and called for a binding decision on the question of who will represent the EU and with what mandate in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.

At the summit, Meloni, like Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden, was open to EU Council President António Costa representing Europe in talks between Ukraine and Russia. The problem, however, is that relevant non-EU members such as Great Britain may not want to be represented by the President of the European Council. Germany and France have also so far shown themselves to be unwilling to engage in a discussion that could lead to them losing their direct participation in the negotiation process. In principle, it is considered unlikely in Europe that there will be a top meeting involving Russian President Vladimir Putin in the foreseeable future. Negotiations are therefore likely to continue at consultant level for the time being.

This is also supported by Putin's most recent statements at a meeting with Witkoff and Kushner on Thursday in Moscow. The Kremlin chief reiterated his unyielding Russian territorial demands on Ukraine. Putin said that there is only one possible border line for Russia with Ukraine, and that is the official Russian external border. According to Putin's understanding, this border also includes Ukrainian territories that Russia has annexed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin proposes a joint Russian-Ukrainian humanitarian operation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka. Putin reported this to US mediators, the Interfax news agency reported. The plan could be modeled on a similar initiative late last month in the Russian-controlled city of Oleshky in southeastern Ukraine, Putin was quoted as saying. This allowed residents to leave the area while relief supplies were delivered to those who remained there. According to the agency, Russia needs five days to clear the area in the Kostiantynivka area.

The Ukraine peace talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US mediators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have started in the Kremlin. Kushner told Putin that Europe wanted to take part in future negotiations. Witkoff said the major prisoner swap agreed at talks in Abu Dhabi this week was a sign of progress.

Nightly Russian attacks have caused damage in eight regions of the country, according to Ukrainian sources. The attack was primarily aimed at the energy and transport infrastructure, Prime Minister Serhiy Koretskyj said on Telegram. A drone hit a nine-story residential building in Kiev this morning, killing one person and injuring at least six. Three people were rescued. According to Koretskyj, Russia also attacked an electricity generation plant in Zaporizhia and high-voltage substations in the Odessa and Rivne regions.

According to media reports, a Russian Air Force officer was killed in a car explosion in Saint Petersburg this morning. The investigative committee of the megacity initiated criminal proceedings for murder. The authorities said investigations at the crime scene were ongoing. The message mentioned a military member who had been killed in a car explosion. Russian investigators generally do not provide information about rank or troop affiliation.

Russian and pro-Ukrainian Telegram channels reported that the man served as an officer in the Russian Air Force. The Saint Petersburg news portal fontanka.ru reported that the man left the house in the morning to drive his car from the yard. Then the explosive device may have been detonated by a remote trigger. It was said that the blast wave shattered the windows of a bus. Kolpinskoye Highway is closed to traffic. Most recently, a military member was killed in a car explosion on the same road in August, Russian media reported.

"The 6th Air and Anti-Aircraft Army is a collective of war criminals involved in air strikes on peaceful cities in Ukraine. They bombed Kharkiv particularly brutally," reported the Telegram channel "Rospartisan", which also published unverifiable footage of the damaged car.

In Russia, officers from Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin's armed forces repeatedly died during the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Russian authorities then usually speak of terrorism, for which they blame Ukrainian secret services. There has so far been no official reaction from the Ukrainian side to the new case.

Russia and Ukraine attacked each other's capitals early this morning. The attacks came a day after peace talks ended. According to an eyewitness from the Reuters news agency, explosions were heard in the early hours of the morning in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. It was