PARIS — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Group of 7 counterparts are turning their attention to Ukraine and how to support its defense against Russia. As trilateral talks among Russia, Ukraine, and the United States get underway in the United Arab Emirates, senior G7 diplomats are meeting Tuesday in France with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
Sybiha will begin his day in Paris with talks alongside Rubio before heading to the French foreign ministry for a larger meeting with the full G7. They will discuss defense and security assistance for Ukraine, support that President Donald Trump’s administration has reduced, causing concern not only in Kyiv but across European capitals, including Paris, Berlin, Rome, and London—all G7 members.
It was not immediately clear whether the United States or any of its G7 partners would announce new assistance for Ukraine.
Meanwhile in Abu Dhabi, Trump’s envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will meet with Russian and Ukrainian officials in part to persuade Moscow to agree to broader negotiations that would include key European officials on ending nearly five years of war.
In Paris, Europeans have been clamoring for a seat at the table in Abu Dhabi, but two U.S. officials said Monday that representatives from Britain, Germany, France, NATO, and the European Union would not join the main talks. Instead, they will discuss potential security guarantees and the long-term security architecture between Russia and Europe beforehand.
Russia has resisted European participation in negotiations and insisted that talks should proceed strictly as a trilateral format involving Russia, Ukraine, and the United States. The three last held talks in February.
On Monday in Paris, German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul, who met separately with Rubio on the sidelines of the G7, was emphatic that Europe must be included.
“I am still very grateful to the United States of America for making every effort to get the parties to the conflict to the table,” he said. “But I made clear again here that Europe belongs at this table. There can be no solution without Europe, only with Europe.”
Rubio said the U.S. has no objection to eventual European involvement in the direct talks, but that it was not yet time.
“Ultimately, it would be a positive, but we’ve got a ways to go,” he told reporters after a full day of group and bilateral meetings with G7 counterparts. “But, no, it’s good that they’re talking, it’s good that the trilateral talks are on again. It’s better than not having talks.”
On the eve of the talks, Russia battered Ukraine’s power grid again on Monday, and Ukrainian forces hit another of Russia’s biggest oil refineries.
The two countries remain locked in battle with no sign that either side is ready to budge from their demands. The war has already killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, according to analysts and humanitarian organizations.
