Europe to join Ukraine-Russia peace talks with security advisers from 5 countries
EU leaders (photo: Getty Images)
The European Union will take part in negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. It will send national security advisers from five countries to the next round of talks, according to Bloomberg and a statement by European Council President António Costa.
Costa said that the EU would be represented at the upcoming talks by officials from EU institutions and national security advisers from Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Poland.
A European official told the agency that representatives of these countries would participate in all future talks at the technical level.
He added that Europe had not yet appointed leaders to represent it at the negotiations.
Bloomberg, citing a European Commission spokesperson, reported that EU member state leaders would discuss the issue during an upcoming press conference.
Talks on the war in Ukraine
Representatives of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia held talks in Abu Dhabi on November 10–11. European countries did not participate directly in the trilateral meetings, although the Ukrainian side held consultations with them in parallel.
Following the talks in Abu Dhabi, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow, where they met with the Russian leader. They later held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin.
Witkoff later said that the Russian side had agreed to the participation of European representatives in the next round of negotiations.
Zelenskyy insists that Europe must participate in the negotiations because Russia's objectives concern not only Ukraine but also the security architecture of the entire continent.
Meanwhile, Politico reported that EU countries had still not agreed on who would represent the bloc in the talks on Ukraine. Some countries support António Costa's candidacy, while France and Germany are unwilling to give up their seats to Brussels.
