Zelenskyy demands Europe become ‘regular part’ of Ukraine talks
DUBLIN — Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed EU governments to step up participation in Ukraine peace negotiations as he talked with world leaders hours before he’s due to hear about Thursday’s Moscow discussions between Vladimir Putin and U.S. officials.
“When the Americans and the Russians talk about this, it’s not just about security guarantees for Ukraine,” the Ukrainian president told leaders at the start of a summit in Dublin. “It’s more about some kind of new security framework between Europe and Russia.”
While he said it’s “very good that Europeans are now part of these talks,” they don’t speak directly to Russia so “we need to make sure that Europe becomes a regular part of this negotiation.” Two days of peace negotiations between Russia, Ukraine and the U.S. in Abu Dhabi ended on Wednesday without a breakthrough ― and without European officials joining the talks. EU governments continue to disagree over who would represent them. U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, met the Russian leader on Thursday and will dash to Dublin to update Zelenskyy on Thursday evening.
Speaking on his way into the European Political Community summit in the Irish capital ― a gathering of 50 EU and non-EU leaders ― German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he had received positive signals from the Abu Dhabi talks, but also stressed that Ukraine and Europe must be involved.“I expect the Russian government and the Russian president to finally agree to these joint talks,” Merz said. “We will also discuss who, if necessary, will represent the European Union. But that is a matter we will discuss behind closed doors and not air publicly.”
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas struck a more skeptical tone, saying she had seen no goodwill from Moscow and insisted that a ceasefire must come before discussions on a peace agreement or Europe’s wider security architecture.
“Americans are representing American interests, Europeans are representing European interests,” she said, adding that EU treaties signal that European Council President António Costa and she should represent the bloc in any talks— a solution backed by Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal in an interview with POLITICO.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that Europe must first agree on its own peace proposals and vision for future European security before deciding who should represent it.
The substance of Europe’s negotiating position should determine the format of any talks, rather than the other way around, he told reporters on the way into the summit.
“Without Europeans there is no support for Ukraine, let’s be honest,” he said, arguing that U.S. involvement has declined. “There is some mediation, fine. But at the end of the day we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans. I have no doubt about it.”
Luxembourg Prime Minister Luc Frieden backed Costa as the EU’s representative, while Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin called for a “clear, coherent leadership from the European Union at that table” warning that it remained unclear whether Russia was genuinely interested in peace.
Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev warned that Europe’s place in future negotiations was still not guaranteed, while his Czech counterpart, Andrej Babiš, expressed optimism that the bloc was moving closer to securing a seat at the table.
The issue is set to be discussed at Friday’s informal European Council following Meloni’s request. Costa agreed to make time for the discussion, on top of the original agenda focusing on AI.
