Putin agrees to let European representatives join next Ukraine peace talks, U.S. envoy says
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Russian President Vladimir Putin consented to European participation in the upcoming round of Ukraine peace negotiations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated on Thursday that European representatives will be allowed to attend the next round of peace talks on Ukraine, U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff said after a meeting in Moscow.
"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," Witkoff said, speaking alongside fellow U.S. envoy Jared Kushner.
The invitation follows a four-and-a-half-hour discussion with Putin and comes as the European Union has long sought a seat at the negotiating table. Witkoff added that the U.S. envoys will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later on Thursday in Dublin, where Zelenskyy attended a European Political Community gathering and where EU leaders are set to discuss the peace process on Friday.
"In Dublin, we will download Zelenskyy on everything that has occurred," Witkoff said.
European officials have expressed skepticism about achieving a breakthrough after the latest round of talks in Abu Dhabi, noting that Russian demands remain unchanged from previous negotiations. A diplomat familiar with the confidential discussions said the demands are "the same maximalist demands that we have heard for years." EU officials 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.