Ukraine: Europeans invited to next negotiations, Kremlin does not confirm

Europeans will participate in the next meeting of negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky announced it on Thursday 12 November at night in Dublin, after meeting the two envoys of Donald Trump, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who arrived from Moscow where they had seen Vladimir Putin [S7][S9][S4][S10]. The media consulted, from Radio-Canada to RFI via Le Monde and La Libre Belgique, report the same sequence, largely based on AFP dispatches, but none yet specify the date and format of this next meeting [S5][S2][S7][S9][S4][S10].

Washington joins European demand

" We cannot conclude this agreement" between Moscow and Kiev "without the Europeans being at the negotiating table," said Jared Kushner alongside the Ukrainian President, on a military airbase in the Irish capital, where Volodymyr Zelensky was participating in a European summit [S7][S9][S4][S10]. "I think we can do this with President Putin," he added [S7][S9][S4].

According to LCI and South West, Volodymyr Zelensky said that Europeans would participate directly, instead of remaining "separate" in the margins of discussions like in the talks in the United Arab Emirates: "They will have a voice" [S1][S2][S6][S10]. "It is important for us, given that this war is taking place in Europe," he added, according to La Libre Belgique, recalling Kiev's willingness to eventually integrate the European Union [S5]. Jared Kushner then wrote on X that "both sides have now agreed to extend the next round of negotiations" to European partners, while acknowledging that "significant differences remain" and promising a "near" timetable [S1][S2][S6][S10]. The Kremlin did not confirm that Vladimir Putin had agreed to include Europe in these future negotiations [S1][S2][S6][S8]. According to Le Monde, the two envoys left Moscow with "very few new elements" [S8].

Europeans have long been calling for involvement in these discussions, believing that the outcome of the conflict is leading to the security of the continent; So far Moscow kept them away from it [S7][S9][S4]. The announcement places them, however, in front of a difficulty they have not solved: for months, they have been struggling to agree on the name of a common representative [S5][S7][S9][S4]. At the end of the European Political Community summit in Dublin on Thursday, Emmanuel Macron said that "no decision on European security can be taken without Europeans", adding that the 40 countries present together take "the primary responsibility for their own security" [S2][S6].

A week of diplomacy, from Abu Dhabi to Moscow

The Dublin stage ends a busy week. On Tuesday and Wednesday, Russians and Ukrainians led their first direct talks in Abu Dhabi, under the auspices of the United States, since February, i.e. more than eight months [S1][S4][S7][S10]. They agreed to a further massive exchange of prisoners, the number of which remains to be specified; Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday night that this would be the most important since the beginning of the war [S1][S7][S4].

On Thursday, the two envoys then had more than four hours of interview with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, according to LCI and South West [S1][S6][S10]. According to La Libre Belgique, they called on him to allow the Europeans to participate directly in the talks, a possibility that Moscow continues to rule out [S5].

Putin maintains its demands

In substance, the Russian President has not given up anything. During this rare exchange on Russian television, he reiterated his demands on the four regions that Moscow has been claiming annexation since 2022 (Louhansk, Donetsk, Zaporijjia and Kherson), which it does not fully control; Russia occupies just over 19% of Ukrainian territory [S7][S9][S4]. He rejected any "grey zone" or demilitarized along the front line [S6][S9][S4].

Above all, he described the deployment of foreign troops in Ukraine as "absolutely unacceptable", which Kiev calls for as a guarantee against a resumption of the conflict. It would, according to him, be "a legitimate target": "war will resume immediately" [S7][S9][S4][S10]. Moscow also hopes that discussions will focus first on security in Europe as a whole, while Kiev and its European supporters call for an end to the conflict as a matter of priority [S9][S4].

The only move made was a proposal concerning Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region at the heart of the fighting. RTS describes it as a temporary truce, LCI in its direct as a humanitarian operation, while Blick and Radio-Canada refer to both [S1][S4][S7][S9][S10]. According to LCI, Vladimir Putin mentioned "about 400 to 500 civilians" still present in the city [S10].

What remains uncertain

Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelensky evoked a "opportunity window" for a ceasefire before 2027 [S4][S7]. The positions set out on Thursday show, however, that the essential blocking points, territories and security guarantees remain intact. The entry of Europeans into the negotiations gives them a voice in the chapter, but it also obliges them to take choices: to designate who speaks on their behalf and to say what guarantees they are ready to provide, while Moscow refuses the main one.

On the ground, the war continues: according to Blick, Russian strikes again killed in Kiev at night [S7]. On the Russian side, the Ministry of Defence claims to have shot down 1,198 Ukrainian drones in the night following the visit of the emissaries, an attack that killed four people in the Volgograd area according to local authorities, according to France 24 and LCI [S3][S10]. RTS also reports that Volodymyr Zelensky denounced on Thursday new limitations, for several days, on the use of SpaceX's Starshield military satellite communication system, which would affect parts of the occupied territory; he asks for urgent recovery [S9]. The sources consulted do not provide the company version.