European representatives will join the next round of negotiations on the war in Ukraine, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Thursday after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The announcement followed two days of U.S.-mediated talks between Russian and Ukrainian representatives in Abu Dhabi.
Witkoff and Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a U.S. envoy, met with Putin at the Kremlin before traveling to Dublin to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Moscow meeting was intended to brief Putin on the Abu Dhabi discussions, which were the first direct U.S.-mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in nine months.
“The Europeans will join at the next meeting, which we consider to be a very important moment because they are our partners and it’s important to us that they take part,” Witkoff told Russian state television.
Putin said Washington should work with its European allies to determine whether they want peace or war in Ukraine, according to Reuters. His comments reflected the disagreement between Moscow and European capitals over the terms for ending the conflict and the role Europe should play in a broader security discussion.
Territory and security remain unresolved
The Abu Dhabi talks produced some progress but did not resolve the central disputes. Russia controls about one-fifth of Ukraine, and Kyiv has rejected giving up the remainder of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. The two sides also continue to disagree over security guarantees for Ukraine and the possibility of foreign peacekeeping forces.
Russian officials have sought to include broader European security arrangements in discussions about the war. Ukrainian and European leaders have opposed a settlement that would divide Europe into spheres of influence and have said Russia must end hostilities first, according to Agence France-Presse.
- The Abu Dhabi negotiations took place on Nov. 10 and 11.
- The talks produced an agreement in principle on a large prisoner-of-war exchange, with the number of detainees and timing still being finalized.
- Territorial control and Ukraine's postwar security arrangements remain disputed.
Ukraine raises communications concerns
During his meeting with the U.S. envoys in Dublin, Zelenskiy said new restrictions were affecting Starshield, the military version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite communications system. He said the disruptions affected Ukraine's entire front line and Russian-controlled parts of the country.
Zelenskiy said the limits were hampering Ukraine's ability to intercept Russian jet drones. He also questioned the U.S. approach of discussing a new European security order with Russia while the war continues. The talks in Abu Dhabi had been described by both Kyiv and Moscow as showing some progress, but major differences remained, particularly over territory.
Kushner said before the Moscow meeting that Washington saw “some openings and some opportunities” for progress. The U.S. objective included obtaining Moscow's approval for European participation in future negotiations, especially talks addressing Europe's wider security framework.
