Putin open to Europe joining Ukraine peace talks, says Witkoff

DUBLIN— Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed Thursday to allow European representatives to join the next round of peace talks on Ukraine, U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff said.

“The Europeans will join at the next meeting, which we think is a very big deal, because it’s important, they are our partners and it’s important for them to be involved,” he said, speaking alongside fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner after a four-and-a-half-hour meeting with Putin in Moscow.

The EU has long been pushing for a seat at the negotiating table. The two U.S. envoys are meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy late Thursday in Dublin, where he attended a meeting of the European Political Community and where EU leaders will discuss the Ukraine peace talks on Friday.

In Dublin, we “will download Zelenskyy on everything that has occurred,” Witkoff said.

European governments so far have been skeptical about the prospects for a breakthrough following the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi this week.

“The Russian demands are the same maximalist demands that we have heard for years,” said a diplomat, who was granted anonymity because the discussions were confidential. Two officials from the EU, Björn Seibert, chief of staff to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Anna-Maria Boura, chief foreign policy adviser to European Council President António Costa, returned from Abu Dhabi and briefed EU ambassadors.