Europe gets a seat at Ukraine peace talks as Putin agrees to wider negotiations

European governments will have a direct seat at the next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, US envoy Steve Witkoff announced Thursday after meeting Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin — a significant shift after European representatives were excluded from this week's trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi.

The Europeans will join at the next meeting, which we consider to be a very important moment because they are our partners and it's important to us that they take part.— Steve Witkoff, US Presidential Envoy

Witkoff and fellow US envoy Jared Kushner flew from Moscow to Ireland, where they briefed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a military airbase outside Dublin. Zelensky was in the Irish capital attending a summit of European leaders. He expressed support for both the broadening of talks to include Europe and a separate deal that could result in the largest prisoner-of-war swap since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

All the sides accepted that Europe will get [a seat at the] negotiation table.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

More than a thousand Ukrainians could return home under the prisoner exchange, Zelensky said, calling it a meaningful humanitarian step forward.

Our soldiers will come home. This is a real result.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

According to The Print, this week's Abu Dhabi talks marked the first time the United States had directly mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in nine months. Both Kyiv and Moscow acknowledged some progress but said major differences remained, including on territorial issues. Russia currently holds about one-fifth of Ukraine, and Kyiv has refused to cede the rest of the Donbas region in the east.

Zelensky said he hoped the agenda for the next round would address ceasefires and de-escalation measures.

We decided that we will work on an agenda about any kind of de-escalation, some kind of ceasefires… I hope that we will have such agenda. Yes, this is important.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

At the Kremlin meeting, Kushner told Putin that Washington had noticed what he described as "a big change" on the European side and expressed confidence that bringing them in would not slow progress, The Print reported. Kushner also stressed that Washington had spent months working with European partners and that their participation was essential.

Putin's response was measured. He said Russia had never opposed dialogue with Europe and that it was European governments that had broken off contact with Moscow. But he warned that any plan to send Western troops into Ukraine after a peace deal would trigger a resumption of fighting, because Russia would view it as a security threat. He also called on the US to determine whether its European allies want 'peace or war in Ukraine.'

We would very much like you, gentlemen, and the US administration as a whole, to work with your European allies so that they can finally make up their minds as to what they want: peace or war in Ukraine.— Vladimir Putin, President of Russia

The Kremlin's own readout was notably cooler. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not confirm European participation in the next round and said Europe's current stance on Ukraine amounted to 'a recipe for endless war,' according to The Print.

Separate from the peace-talk developments, Zelensky flagged a new source of friction: disruptions to Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications service. He said the restrictions were affecting the entire front line and Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine, and that Ukraine had suffered similar disruptions the previous month. SpaceX declined to comment, according to The Print.

So far we know very little (on the Starshield restrictions). But some things are already clear: if someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then it tells us where things are going.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Zelensky also said he found the US approach of discussing a new European security order with Russia 'a bit strange.' The next round of talks has no confirmed date or location, though Witkoff said European partners would be part of the process.

Each meeting has to give results and bring us closer to peace.— Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine

Why it matters — Whether Europe gains a genuine seat at the negotiating table will shape the terms of any eventual peace deal — and determine whether European security guarantees for Ukraine can be built into it.

Sources differ on Whether European participation in the next round of talks is confirmed: Confirmed — Witkoff announced it publicly after Kremlin talks and Zelensky welcomed it. (kyivpost.com, theprint.in) vs Not confirmed — Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov did not confirm European participation in his post-meeting briefing. (theprint.in)

Reported by kyivpost.com, theprint.in