EU names representatives for Ukraine peace talks: five European countries at the table

Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Poland will be represented in the upcoming Ukraine peace negotiations, alongside European institutions. The five countries are among Europe’s leading military powers.

European Council President Antonio Costa announced the composition of the European team after a meeting of European leaders in Dublin.

Costa said Europe must maintain a united position in any discussion concerning Ukraine’s future and the continent’s security.

According to Reuters, the upcoming talks are expected to include the national security advisers of the five countries and representatives of the European Commission and the European Council. NATO is also expected to be represented.

The Kremlin, for its part, said Russia was willing to accept the participation of European countries in the negotiations if they showed they wanted to make a genuine contribution to peace.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described Russia’s statements as “the same old game.” He insisted that Ukraine could not be left out of discussions about its future, nor Europe out of discussions about the continent, and added that Europe’s security architecture did not need to be renegotiated.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk also warned against unnecessary concessions to Moscow and opposed Russian demands to change Europe’s current security order.

Meanwhile, U.S. negotiator Jared Kushner announced that he had begun discussions with European partners on the continent’s security architecture.

This week, representatives of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the EU took part in talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi.

Russia and Ukraine reported some progress in those talks, but have yet to reach an agreement on the most difficult issues, particularly control of Ukrainian territories.