EU hosts Ukraine talks with U.S., NATO ahead of Abu Dhabi

The European Commission is hosting talks in Brussels on Wednesday, Nov. 4, with representatives of Ukraine, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, NATO and the World Bank on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and prosperity, the Commission said.

The meeting is the first of at least three diplomatic sessions in a week. NATO is to host more talks on Thursday, Nov. 5, and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff has said delegations from Ukraine and Russia will meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10 and 11.

Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho confirmed the Brussels meeting at the daily press briefing on Tuesday. “The meeting will focus on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and prosperity,” Pinho said, according to Eunews.

Pinho said the talks follow earlier discussions in Miami. “With the aim of achieving lasting and sustainable peace in Ukraine,” she said the Commission would be represented at the level of national security advisers, meaning senior officials, Ukrainian National News reported.

Pinho also said the Commission is “in contact with our US counterparts regarding the announcements and forthcoming meetings,” Eunews reported.

Reuters reported that a source familiar with the plans said the discussions would cover a “prosperity plan” and security guarantees for Ukraine. Canada News Media has not been able to confirm those details independently, and the Commission has not published an agenda.

The attendee lists differ slightly. The Commission’s list, as relayed by Reuters and Ukrainian National News, includes Ukraine. Eunews, which cited the spokesperson on the Miami precedent, did not list Ukraine among the participants.

NATO spokesperson Allison Hart said representatives from France, Germany, Britain and the United States would meet at the alliance on Thursday to “discuss the way forward on bringing about a just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine,” Reuters reported.

Witkoff announced the Abu Dhabi round in a post on X, according to Reuters. It would bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia on Nov. 10 and 11, with the United States as mediator. Canada News Media reported on the Abu Dhabi plan on Nov. 2.

The sequence matters because it shows how the diplomacy is being split. Europeans are working on reconstruction money and security guarantees in Brussels and at NATO, while the Russia-facing negotiation runs separately through Washington. Plans for Brussels talks had already shifted once, as we reported on Oct. 27.

Canada and the European Union recently issued a joint statement on their partnership. For Canada, the Brussels and NATO tracks are where allied decisions on Ukraine’s reconstruction and security guarantees are being shaped. Canada is not listed among the attendees of the Brussels meeting.

Fighting has not paused while diplomats meet. On Nov. 3, Russian bombs killed at least 31 people at an aid centre in Zaporizhzhia, according to our earlier report. Battlefield and casualty figures in the war are claims by the parties and are often impossible to verify independently.

The next confirmed dates are NATO’s talks on Nov. 5 and the Abu Dhabi round on Nov. 10 and 11. No outcome from the Brussels meeting had been announced when this story was published.

Via Reuters, Eunews and Ukrainian National News.

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