Kushner Says Ukraine and Russia Agree to Add Europe to Peace Talks
US envoy Jared Kushner said that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to expand the next round of peace negotiations to include European countries. He made the statement in Dublin after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, on 13 November.
Kushner said the wider format would allow talks to address postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia. He also said that if Europe could agree on a single person to speak on its behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting Russia to include Europeans in the negotiations.
The question of who speaks for Europe is one of the issues EU leaders are taking up in Dublin on 13 November. The European Union, a bloc of 27 member states, is still searching for a lead negotiator to represent it in peace talks with Russia. Leaders are also discussing Ukraine and artificial intelligence at the meeting. Following remarks from Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni and German chancellor Friedrich Merz, they will also discuss Europe's role in international peace talks and future financial support for Ukraine.
Earlier, at the European Political Community summit in Dublin, around 40 countries signed a declaration drafted by France. It states that European states bear primary responsibility for the continent's security and are taking on a greater share of that responsibility.
European Council president António Costa said Europe does not need to reinvent the wheel. In his view, the continent had a functioning security architime, meaning its framework of agreements and institutions, until Russia's invasion of Ukraine undermined and destroyed it.
UK prime minister Andy Burnham said that Russian demands to place European security arrangements into the negotiations are not up for negotiation. He said Europe alone will decide its own arrangements.
The positions show how the question of Europe's place at the table is being worked out in parallel with the talks themselves. Kushner's remarks on a single European voice and the Dublin discussions on a lead negotiator point to the same unresolved question of who would speak for Europe.
