US envoys pledge European seat at next Russia-Ukraine peace talks

US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have pledged to include European Union delegates in the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, a commitment that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed. BBC News

Zelensky said that bringing Europeans into the talks would give the EU a "voice" in the negotiations. He said this made sense because Kyiv hopes to join the European Union over the longer term, and he noted that he has called for European delegates to be included in peace talks for several years.

Kushner and Witkoff met Zelensky in Dublin on 13 November, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier the same day. Putin said Russia's position on the war and its demand for territory has not changed.

Kushner said he had stressed to Putin the importance of having European delegates "at the table", and said Putin was "willing to give it a try". He also said the United States had been working very closely with European governments over the past several months.

European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas said the presence of a European delegate showed that the Kremlin, the Russian government, now recognised Europe as a major player.

The same round of diplomacy produced an agreement on a prisoner exchange. Russia and Ukraine agreed to a swap that was described as the largest since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Kushner said the exchange would return "thousands of people to their families".

Separately, Zelensky said Ukraine's military was facing more systematic restrictions on Starshield, a military-grade satellite service linked to Starlink. He said these restrictions made it harder for Ukrainian forces to intercept Russian jet-powered drones.