Five European Powers and EU Institutions Form Unified Team for Ukraine Peace Talks

On Friday, at an Informal European Council press conference, European Council President António Costa announced who would speak for Europe if talks to end the war in Ukraine move forward. The team is made up of the EU institutions and five countries from the Coalition of the Willing: France, Germany, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom, a grouping now called the E5. The dateline was Dublin, and the announcement came as diplomacy involving the United States, Ukraine and Russia picked up again.

Costa set out the arrangement in a post on X. Leaders had agreed, he wrote, that the European team for peace negotiations is the EU institutions plus the E5. He said Europe's principles and positions are well known, and that the team will act in full unity and in close coordination with all member states.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen welcomed the renewed momentum toward what she called a just and lasting peace, and said a strong European presence matters. As multilateral talks with the US, Ukraine and Russia approach, she said, the goal is to end the war and secure strong security guarantees along with a plan for Ukraine's post-war prosperity. She also tied diplomacy to pressure: the Commission will soon propose a 22nd sanctions package, along with a proposal to close Ukraine's financing gap for 2027. Continued support for Kyiv and more pressure on Moscow, she said, are needed to bring Russia to the table.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirmed the arrangement, also on X. He said the E5 and European institutions will represent Europe in negotiations with Russia, Ukraine and the United States, and that peace in Ukraine and the security of Poland and all of Europe are at stake. His closing line: "This is our time."

The announcement follows a run of US-facilitated contacts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy recently met in Ireland with Steve Witkoff, special envoy to US President Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner. That meeting came after Witkoff and Kushner held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. It covered humanitarian issues, a larger European role in the negotiations, and further diplomatic engagements.

Zelenskyy said the Ireland talks produced three key outcomes. The first is humanitarian: prisoners will be released, and Kyiv is counting on the largest prisoner exchange since the war began. The second is that European representatives are being brought into diplomacy more actively so they can have an equal seat at the table. He said Ukraine always defends the interests of all of Europe.

Before the Moscow and Ireland meetings, Russia, Ukraine and the United States held two days of trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi. They ended without a breakthrough, though reportedly with progress on several issues, including preparations for a prisoner exchange.

Significant differences remain on territorial arrangements and future security guarantees. In the Kremlin talks, Putin restated Moscow's opposition to foreign troops on Ukrainian soil after any peace deal. "The presence of any foreign troops on Ukrainian territory is absolutely unacceptable to us," he said.

What to watch next: whether the prisoner exchange happens and at what scale, when the 22nd sanctions package arrives, and whether multilateral talks that include Russia and the European team actually take place.