US envoy Jared Kushner said on Saturday that Washington is working to arrange the next round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks, with a new focus on bringing Europe into direct engagement with Moscow.
US envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev. Photo: kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Washington Turns to the Next Round
Kushner told reporters on Saturday that he and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff had remained in close consultation with Russia, Ukraine and their European partners since the first round of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi, which ended without a breakthrough but produced a prisoner exchange.
"Our focus now is on facilitating direct engagement between Moscow and European partners and preparing the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks," Kushner said in a post on X, according to The Economic Times. He added that several new ideas had emerged from the discussions and were being explored, with some potentially leading to breakthroughs.
Kushner said "both sides" — Kyiv and Moscow — know that compromises will be necessary to end Russia's war on Ukraine, Al Jazeera reported. He acknowledged the devastating human cost of the conflict and said the US-led diplomatic efforts would continue, while keeping sensitive negotiations confidential.
Europe Joins the Table
The prospect of Europe's direct involvement in the talks has grown in recent weeks. On Friday in Dublin, European leaders agreed that five countries — France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Poland — would send representatives to future peace discussions.
The Kremlin has signalled openness to negotiations with Europe, but has criticised a lack of proposals from the bloc, Al Jazeera reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Wednesday he did not believe it was possible to think about European security "without Europe."
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a lengthy post on X on Saturday that Europe must "state clearly" what it wants for the post-war period, "including to the Russians." Macron also said Ukraine, which has Europe's largest conventional army, has a key role to play in Europe's post-war context alongside NATO, which he added is "a place where it fully belongs."
Security Guarantees and the NATO Question
Kushner also made direct reference to the security guarantees Ukraine would require in any settlement, and made clear that it would be NATO that would provide them, according to Al Jazeera's Mike Hanna, reporting from Washington. Hanna said Russia's acceptance of European participation in the talks, as described by Kushner, "is something that could actually be important."
The comments follow Zelenskyy's disclosure on Friday that US negotiators had asked during the Abu Dhabi talks whether Ukraine would withdraw its troops from the eastern Donbas region, most of which Russia occupies, in exchange for joining NATO. Zelenskyy refused to cede territory, but said the question showed NATO membership was "back on the agenda" for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said the discussions with the US envoys had also produced preparations for what could become the largest prisoner exchange since the beginning of the war.
Fighting Continues as Talks Advance
The diplomacy is advancing even as the war rages on. Russia continued its bombardment of Ukraine on Saturday, with deadly strikes in the eastern city of Pavlohrad and in a village near Zaporizhzhia, which is now just a few dozen kilometres from the front line, The Hindu reported.
November leaks from Russia's official statistics agency showed that Moscow's war effort has so far cost the lives of at least 450,000 soldiers, according to Al Jazeera. No final peace agreement has been announced, and major disagreements over territory and Ukraine's future security arrangements remain unresolved.
But with a new round of talks being prepared, European capitals now at the table and both sides acknowledging that compromise will be required, the negotiations have entered a new phase — one in which Europe, long sidelined, is set to speak directly to Moscow.
Sources: Al Jazeera; The Economic Times; Times Now; The Hindu.