Senior Envoys Re-Engage in Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Calls for European Inclusion

The most recent round of trilateral talks, held in Geneva in February, concluded without a breakthrough. Following this, the US-Israel conflict against Iran shifted Washington’s focus away from Ukraine, and no further discussions took place until now.

In the interim, European leaders—largely excluded from peace negotiations—have advocated for greater involvement, expressing concern that security decisions for the continent should not be made without their participation.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen urged on Monday to include Nato allies and EU members into any “meaningful discussions about Europe’s security architecture”. President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly stated Kyiv wanted Europe to be part of the talks.

A US official stated that America would propose shifting to a multilateral format that brings Europeans into the discussion. “Hopefully we’ll get the Russians on board,” the official said, while acknowledging that “the Russians have a bad taste in their mouth with the Europeans.”

Since beginning his second term, US President Donald Trump—who once claimed he could end the war in Ukraine within a day—has led several rounds of talks aimed at concluding the conflict, though with limited success so far.

His increasingly conciliatory approach toward Moscow has deepened unease in Kyiv and across the European Union.

Following a meeting with Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev in Washington last week, Trump previewed a forthcoming “big, beautiful agreement” on Ukraine that “might involve all of Europe.”

Many in Ukraine remain skeptical that this would yield a fair peace.

Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko, chair of the foreign affairs parliamentary committee, told the BBC he believes Trump is seeking “a quick deal at the expense of Ukraine,” a outcome Kyiv will undoubtedly reject.

The only way to prompt Putin to enter real negotiations is by applying greater pressure on Russia through sanctions and deep strikes, Merezhko argued.

“While Putin has a war machine up and running, he has no incentives to negotiate,” Merezhko said. He also pointed to recent Trump moves, such as the deal to purchase diesel from Russia, as factors that “only encourage Moscow to continue the war”.

Moscow’s delegation in Abu Dhabi will include Kremlin aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, spy chief Igor Kostyukov, and army general Yury Zhigarlovsky.

Kyiv is sending several senior officials who have previously participated in negotiating teams, including Foreign Intelligence Service head Rustem Umerov, Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov, and MP Davyd Arakhamiya.

Away from Abu Dhabi, Russia continues to pummel Ukraine with deadly bombardments and strikes on energy infrastructure, which Kyiv views as proof that Moscow wants to corner Ukraine into accepting a deal on Russia’s terms.

On Monday, Kushner cautioned that the Abu Dhabi talks could at most “build momentum toward the next phase of negotiations.”

“This is an extraordinarily difficult and complicated conflict,” he wrote on X, adding that the US was “approaching these discussions with determination and realism.”

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