US Seeks Direct Europe-Russia Talks on Ukraine Peace

The United States is working to bring European governments into direct talks with Moscow as it presses for a deal to end the war in Ukraine, envoy Jared Kushner said Saturday. The move comes as negotiators prepare another round of talks that has yet to produce a broader peace agreement.

“Our focus is now on facilitating direct engagement between Moscow and European partners and preparing the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks,” Kushner said in a social media post. He said new ideas had emerged from recent discussions, some of which could lead to breakthroughs or help narrow remaining differences.

Kushner and fellow U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff met separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during the past week. Kushner told reporters that both sides understood compromises would be needed to end the war, Al Jazeera reported.

The latest U.S.-brokered Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi ended without a wider peace agreement. CBS News reported that negotiators announced plans for a new prisoner exchange and further talks; Al Jazeera reported that the talks resulted in a prisoner exchange.

Europe’s role is also taking shape. Al Jazeera reported that leaders agreed Friday to send representatives from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Poland to future peace talks. French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe must “state clearly” what it wants after the war, “including to the Russians.” The Kremlin has signalled openness to negotiations with Europe while criticising what it says is a lack of European proposals, according to Al Jazeera.

Zelenskyy, however, warned that a broader discussion of European security could give Moscow an opening to seek changes to NATO’s military presence or Europe’s borders. He said U.S. negotiators had raised the possibility of a new security framework for the continent.

“In my view, this can be dangerous,” Zelenskyy told reporters Friday in remarks released Saturday. “This should not be the main agenda.” He said the proper sequence was “a ceasefire, an end to the war in Ukraine, and security guarantees for Ukraine.”

Zelenskyy also said U.S. negotiators asked whether Ukraine would leave parts of the eastern Donbas region that Russia does not control in exchange for NATO membership. He rejected surrendering Ukrainian territory and said any arrangement would not recognise occupied areas as Russian. He ruled out committing Ukraine to neutrality, saying that would require a constitutional change.

Ukraine is discussing a security package with partners that could include NATO and European Union guarantees, a strong Ukrainian military, financial support and a recovery plan, Zelenskyy said. If the United States and other NATO partners confirmed such a package, he said, he would ask Ukrainians whether they accepted it.

Kushner said lasting peace would require guarantees for Ukraine and detailed postwar arrangements to reduce the risk of another war. NATO, he said, would remain “a critical pillar of European security.” Any final agreement must have the consent of the relevant parties, he added.