European representatives will take part in peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, as reported by Seznam Zprávy following a Thursday meeting in Dublin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and special U.S. envoy Jared Kushner confirmed the development after Kushner and colleague Steve Witkoff arrived in the Irish capital from Moscow.
The U.S. envoys had previously traveled to Moscow following two-day trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, which concluded on Wednesday, according to iROZHLAS.
Those previous discussions in Abu Dhabi produced an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange, but did not achieve a ceasefire or a broader peace settlement, iROZHLAS noted.
During the Dublin meeting, Zelenskyy said that further negotiations would follow, according to AFP and Reuters reports cited by Seznam Zprávy.
“We cannot conclude this agreement without Europeans at the negotiating table,” Kushner said after the Dublin meeting.
“I believe we are in a situation where we can achieve this with President Putin,” added Kushner, zeť amerického prezidenta Donalda Trumpa, regarding the conflict that began in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine on Putin’s orders.
Novinky reported that the central focus of the Abu Dhabi talks was an American proposal for a new security architecture between Europe and Russia as part of any peace deal.
During those discussions, Russian negotiators led by presidential adviser Vladimir Medinsky blamed the former U.S. administration for the outbreak of the war.
“The invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was launched because then-U.S. President Joe Biden failed to respond to a letter sent in December 2021 in which Russia outlined its security demands,” the Russian delegation said.
Deutsche Welle reported that the United States and NATO did provide formal written responses to Moscow on January 26, 2022, offering arms control talks while rejecting demands for a permanent ban on Ukrainian NATO membership.
Novinky reported that U.S. negotiators Witkoff and Kushner, joined by U.S. European Command chief General Alexus Grynkewich, asked the Russian side to draft a new proposal addressing their security concerns alongside symmetric steps for de-escalation.
However, Russian representatives expressed opposition to European involvement in the talks.
“As for the leadership of a number of European countries, they are basically participating in collectively deceiving the Ukrainian people and contributing to the mass dying of civilians,” Medinsky said after the meeting. “Therefore, I do not understand what there is to talk about with them.”
Putin meets US envoys at the Kremlin
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Witkoff and Kushner at the Kremlin, as reported by iROZHLAS.
Putin opened the discussion by stating the importance of hearing the envoys’ assessment of the Abu Dhabi talks and proposed organizing a humanitarian mission regarding the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, according to the Russian agency TASS cited by iROZHLAS.
Prior to the Kremlin meeting, the U.S. envoys met at a Moscow hotel with presidential adviser Yury Ushakov and Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, iROZHLAS reported.
“Today we will discuss various issues aimed at resolving the crisis around Ukraine,” Ushakov said.
Analyst Pavel Havlíček of the Association for International Affairs noted in an interview with Aktuálně.cz that the core disputed topics remain territorial claims and the future security framework.
“Russia is currently not given a big reason to rush and will continue to tactically wait for certain moments that might disrupt the Western perspective,” Havlíček said, as reported by Aktuálně.cz.
Armádní zpravodaj reported that Ukrainian officials have expressed increasing concern that Moscow is utilizing procedural delays and ongoing strikes on energy infrastructure to strengthen its leverage before winter.
European nations have consistently supported Ukraine throughout the conflict and have increasingly insisted on participation in peace talks, though divisions remain regarding who should represent the European Union at the negotiating table, according to Seznam Zprávy and Aktuálně.cz.
Questions about the peace talks
- Who represented the United States at the meetings in Moscow and Dublin?
- Special U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin before heading to Dublin to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to reports by iROZHLAS and Seznam Zprávy.
- What was the primary tangible outcome of the trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi?
- Media reports and analysts cited by iROZHLAS identified a large-scale prisoner exchange agreement as the main concrete result of the discussions between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine.
- How has the Russian delegation responded to the prospect of European participation?
- Head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky said that Moscow does not see a basis for negotiating directly with European leaders, accusing them of contributing to the continuation of the conflict, as reported by Novinky.
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