Europe will be represented at upcoming US-mediated talks with Moscow and Kyiv in Abu Dhabi to end the Ukraine war, France said on Sunday.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told RTL radio: “The Europeans will be represented, and France will be in Abu Dhabi to participate in these talks.”
His comment came after President Donald Trump stoked fears of a US pivot towards the Kremlin by predicting a “very big” deal with Russia involving not only the Ukraine war but “all of Europe”.
So far, the talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday have been framed as a trilateral format at the level of officials, not leaders, from Ukraine, Russia and the United States.
The identities of those who would take part have not been made public.
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made it clear that he wants European allies involved in the process, Russia has suggested there would be no place for European representatives at the table.
Barrot said that, in the past, “there have been discussions, sometimes without the Europeans and sometimes with” but “this time they will participate”.
He said: “France will be there and will ensure that Europe’s voice is heard.”
On Thursday, US, European, Ukrainian and Nato officials met in Brussels ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks.
A Nato spokeswoman said they “sought to advance a just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine”.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s envoy and son-in-law, participated in the Brussels meeting by video link. He said the United States was working on “a broader European security architecture that can help establish the conditions for lasting peace”.
European allies are treating the American approach warily, having long rejected Moscow’s desire to rewrite the European security architecture.
Before launching the war in Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin delivered an ultimatum to Nato that included a demand that the alliance’s troops be withdrawn from Eastern Europe.
The Western military alliance rejected it.
Kushner on Thursday said that Washington would “consult closely with our European partners on the sidelines” of the Abu Dhabi talks and “if progress is made, aim to move toward a broader multilateral format with their direct participation”.
- AFP