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EU settles on five-nation group to speak for Europe at Ukraine peace talks
Reuters • • world
Key Points:
- EU leaders have agreed that Europe's delegation for Ukraine peace talks will include Britain (a non-EU member), France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and EU institutions, aiming to present a unified voice on Ukraine's future and European security.
- Russia expressed openness to European countries joining peace talks if they genuinely seek peace, while calling for a broad agreement on Europe's security architecture before addressing war specifics.
- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected Russia's stance, emphasizing that Ukraine must be part of any discussions and that Europe's security architecture is already established.
- US negotiator Jared Kushner has initiated talks with European partners on the continent's security architecture, with recent Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi showing some progress but no breakthrough on key territorial issues.
- Several EU leaders warned against renegotiating Europe’s security architecture as demanded by Russia, viewing such discussions as a distraction from achieving a ceasefire and potentially conceding to Russian demands.
