Europe names five-nation team for Ukraine peace talks

The European Union said on Friday, Nov. 13, that Europe will send a team of diplomats to the next round of Ukraine peace talks, made up of EU institutions and five countries: the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and Poland.

European Council President António Costa announced the format at the end of an EU leaders’ summit in Dublin, The Associated Press reported. A day later, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States had asked whether Ukraine would withdraw from the Donbas region if it were allowed to join NATO, according to RTÉ.

Talks so far have involved only Russian, Ukrainian and U.S. officials, who met in Abu Dhabi this week for the first time in nine months, RTÉ reported. Europe, which finances and arms much of Ukraine’s war effort, has had no seat. Our earlier reporting covered the joint European team sent near the Abu Dhabi talks and the opening of those talks.

Zelenskyy told reporters that the Americans had put the question for the first time. “The Americans raised a question: ‘What if Ukraine joins NATO? Would Ukraine withdraw from Donbas?'” he said, according to RTÉ. He said Ukraine was discussing specific security guarantees with NATO and the EU and that, if Western countries confirmed them, he would ask Ukrainians what they think. “I have no right to make that decision on my own,” he said. The claim rests on Zelenskyy’s own account, and neither RTÉ nor AP cited a U.S. source for it.

U.S. envoy Jared Kushner and Zelenskyy both said after meeting in Dublin on Thursday that Europe would be part of the next round. “We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said, according to AP. Zelenskyy said the European team would have “a voice.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Europe must first name a representative, AP reported.

Who would speak for Europe is unresolved. AP reported that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backs a single envoy and has criticized uncoordinated initiatives, saying there are “too many different groupings discussing the issue.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Friday: “I’m the one who is representing Europe in the foreign and security policy,” adding that she knows “the Russians don’t want me.” AP named Costa and Kallas as the two leading EU contenders and said Finnish President Alexander Stubb has also been floated.

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking Thursday at the European Political Community meeting in Dublin, said: “Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine.” His office published a declaration by the 40 participating nations stating that the path to peace in Ukraine should be decided with Ukraine, AP reported. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders feared another surprise like the 2025 Alaska summit and urged: “Please, no surprises.” AP said U.S. President Donald Trump is due to travel to Beijing next week to meet Putin.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday that the commission would soon propose a 22nd package of sanctions against Russia and a plan to close Ukraine’s financing gap for 2027, RTÉ reported. We detailed the 22nd sanctions package earlier this week. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said the war would resume immediately if European troops deployed in Ukraine, a position that makes the European seat harder to settle.

For Canadians, the outcome bears on a large diaspora and on Canada’s own commitments. Statistics Canada’s 2021 census counted more than 1.2 million people who reported Ukrainian origins, and Canada leads a NATO multinational brigade in Latvia. Any security guarantee for Ukraine, or any limit on European forces, would shape what Canadian troops and trade partners face. Prime Minister Mark Carney used the same Dublin gathering to press EU leaders to ratify the Canada-EU trade agreement. Canada is not part of the E5 format.

No date has been set for the next round of talks. Ukraine and Russian claims about the battlefield and negotiations could not be independently verified for this report.

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Via The Associated Press (as published by Business Standard) and RTÉ.