U.S. to press Russia for a seat for Europe at Ukraine peace talks

The United States will press Russia to give Europe a direct seat at the peace talks over the war in Ukraine. President Donald Trump's two envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, will take up the demand in the negotiations.

Kushner and Witkoff will mediate the first trilateral discussion with Russia and Ukraine since February, in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, shared the information.

In the words of the U.S. officials, European governments will likely not have long to decide who should represent them at the negotiating table. Kushner and Witkoff want this week's meeting to be the last one without Europe's full participation.

One U.S. official said, "We need Europe at the table. So our proposal is to bring the Europeans into the discussion after this trilateral."

On October 27, the leaders of Finland and Norway called Russian President Vladimir Putin directly. U.S. officials welcomed the move and said much more European outreach is necessary, so that Russia can hear their message directly.

The question of who speaks for Europe — and whether Ukraine's European allies should even be speaking to Putin at all — has been deeply divisive for a long time. EU leaders will discuss the topic at an informal summit in Dublin later this week.

Ever since Trump returned to the White House last year, EU officials and diplomats have worried that the United States is talking directly to Russia to negotiate an end to the war while they are left on the sidelines.

Senior European officials will be present at this week's meetings in Abu Dhabi. Security advisers from the U.K., Germany and France, as well as officials from Italy, NATO, the European Commission and the European Council, will be there. But because of Russian objections they will not take part in the main negotiations; Kushner and Witkoff are expected to consult them.

U.S. officials said Day 1 of the talks would focus on security guarantees for Ukraine and the potential reshaping of Europe's security architecture. Day 2 would look at territorial issues — where the borders and boundaries should be drawn — and other questions.

European governments fear that Trump may be preparing to agree to Putin's longstanding demands to roll back NATO's influence in the region. But the U.S. officials insisted that NATO would still be central to Europe's collective defense. At the same time, they said the continent's relations with Russia need a fundamental rethink.

The same official said, "Obviously something's not working." Europeans have "a lot of baggage" about redrawing the security architecture because Russia had proposed various changes in the past and previous arrangements had failed. He said, "We have to build something new that works today."

The officials said NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte had been heavily involved in the discussions with the U.S. administration and in sharing ideas for reforms. On the most difficult question of all for Ukraine — the fate of Russian-occupied territory — both sides have shown "flexibility" in private, they said.

The aim of this week's talks is not to deliver a final ceasefire, but to keep up the momentum of recent weeks. The U.S. side said the two main tracks in the talks — territory and future security arrangements for Ukraine and Europe — must run together and be resolved together.

In an interview with POLITICO, Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Støre said he does not expect the Abu Dhabi talks to deliver a major breakthrough. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has worried that a new escalation in the U.S.-Iran war could derail negotiations over a truce in Ukraine.