European leaders are under pressure to put forward a name to represent them in Ukraine peace talks after US envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters that the Europeans will be present at the next meetings.
When asked by DW during the European Political Community summit in Dublin why Europe should only get one seat at the table while the US gets two, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas responded with a wry, ironic laugh ― clearly a sign of the frustration felt by European leaders about being sidelined thus far.
The summit of 47 European leaders in Dublin comes in the wake of a diplomatic tour by two Donald Trump administration advisers, the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, to talks in Abu Dhabi, followed by a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The pair then hot-footed their way to Dublin to debrief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelekenskyy.
Zelenskyy and Kushner also said Thursday that Europeans would be at the table for the next talks with Russia on ending the war.
Kallas is one of the figures tipped as most likely to represent the EU in any future talks to end Russia's war against Ukraine, alongside EU Council President Antonio Costa. As yet, the EU hasn’t been able to land on one central figure to send ― many of the national leaders want to be present themselves.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia needs clarity on the European Union's "real intentions" for joining the Ukraine peace talks before making a decision on whether to expand the trilateral format.
US negotiators said on Thursday that President Vladimir Putin had agreed to an EU seat at the table, but Peskov's remarks indicate that the Kremlin has not yet agreed.
"Once we understand their real intentions and their willingness to contribute to the peace process, then we can make a decision on holding talks in an expanded format," Peskov said.
"If the Europeans really do have someone who is at least authorized in some way to talk, and if the Europeans really do have the desire to do so, then, of course, we will be ready to talk to them," he said.
Speaking after the latest trilateral meeting in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, Russia's lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, claimed that "Russia did not receive single concrete peace proposal from European countries."
The European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, said Russia did not want "anybody strong" at the negotiating table because "they want to push through their maximum demands."
Arriving at an EU summit in Dublin, Kallas told reporters that Moscow had no say over who represented the European Union in the US-mediated Ukraine-Russia peace talks.
"First we need a ceasefire. If we start to talk about what Russia is asking regarding the security architecture, we actually walk into the traps that Russia is setting us, which is that we divert the attention away from that there is no ceasefire," she said.
EU leaders are under pressure to put forward a name to represent the European Union in Ukraine peace talks after US envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters that the bloc will be present at the next meetings.
Kallas is one of the figures tipped as most likely to represent the EU in any future talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine, alongside EU Council President Antonio Costa.
As yet, the EU hasn't been able to land on one central figure to send ― many of the national leaders want to be present themselves.
Russia's Investigative Committee has launched an inquiry into the explosion of a car belonging to an exiled Ukrainian political aide in Moscow, media reported.
The car reportedly belonged to Sergei Zavorotniy, a former spokesman for Mykola Azarov, who served as Ukraine's prime minister from 2010 to 2014. He fled to Russia from Ukraine amid anti-government protests in 2014.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Zavorotniy was hospitalized. Both Ren TV and the 112 Telegram channel reported that he lost his left arm in the attack and sustained a concussion, rib fractures, and other injuries.
Meanwhile, Azarov told Russia's TASS state news agency on Friday that he does not know anything about the explosion except that Zavorotniy survived.
This is the second reported car explosion in Russia following the death of a Russian serviceman in a car explosion in Saint Petersburg on Thursday.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.
