Witkoff and Kushner Press Putin to Bring Europe Into Ukraine Peace Talks

On Thursday night, at an air base in Dublin with the planes of two delegations idling nearby, Jared Kushner told reporters that the deal could not be concluded without Europeans at the table. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky stood beside him and went a step further, saying Europe would join the next round of talks. "It's important for us, because the war is in Europe," he said. Russia has not confirmed it.

Kushner and Steve Witkoff, President Trump's envoys, had come to Dublin straight from Moscow. They had arrived in Russia a day after mediating talks in Abu Dhabi, where Russian and Ukrainian representatives spoke directly for the first time in nine months. In the Kremlin they met President Vladimir Putin to seek his agreement to bring Europe in, then flew on to brief Zelensky.

The push comes as Moscow is widening the agenda. Russia has made clear it will not consider a cease-fire until its broader demands to redraw Europe's security architecture are addressed. The Trump administration, looking for a foreign policy win after the Republican losses in the midterm elections, is pursuing a sweeping agreement that would bundle together a cease-fire, security arrangements and territory.

Putin gave little sign of an easy path. He told the envoys he wanted their assessments from "a European perspective" after their recent meetings with European officials, including in Abu Dhabi. But he also signaled that if Russia sat down with European representatives, the negotiations would be tough. He has accused Europe, which has replaced the United States as Ukraine's biggest backer, of being the side that wants war. "We would very much like you, distinguished gentlemen, and the American administration as a whole, to work with your European allies so that they finally make up their minds on the question of what they want: peace or war in Ukraine," he said. The Americans sounded warmer. Kushner said they had seen "a big change with the Europeans" and "strong momentum and desire to engage together."

The Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday that Europeans were "making every effort to join the negotiations." Finland's President Alexander Stubb said there was a real possibility Europeans would be around the table, which he called progress in itself. Last month Putin held a call with Stubb and his Norwegian counterpart, one that other European leaders denounced as endangering unity on Russia. European Union leaders plan to debate at a lunch in Dublin on Friday who should speak for them, and they widely agreed Thursday that a European presence was critical. Antonio Costa, president of the European Council, said Europe's security cannot be discussed without a European voice, adding that there is no need to reinvent the wheel and pointing to principles such as inviolable frontiers and peaceful settlement of disputes.

For Europe, direct negotiations would depart from its long-held position that Russia must stop fighting first. Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center said Putin could read European participation as proof that his strategy of waiting out the Europeans for concessions is working.

On Wednesday, at a security conference in Moscow, the senior diplomat Aleksei Drobinin outlined what Russia might accept: bilateral agreements with European states that "in substance, meet the criteria of mutual nonaggression pacts," or political agreements to refrain from supporting each other's adversaries in the event of aggression. He compared them to accords Russia has signed with Belarus, Iran and North Korea.

Meanwhile, the fighting continues. Russia has intensified attacks on Ukrainian cities ahead of a winter bombing campaign, exploiting Ukraine's shortage of air defenses; the article gives no casualty figures. Zelensky said Thursday that Ukraine's armed forces again faced restrictions on Starshield, the military version of Starlink, and that Kyiv had asked U.S. officials for information.

Putin also offered a humanitarian mission in Kostiantynivka, a contested Ukrainian city, modeled on the recent cease-fire around Russian-occupied Oleshky. Brokered by first lady Melania Trump, that was the longest localized cease-fire since 2022 and helped evacuate hundreds of civilians. Putin said the mission would settle a point about Russia's territorial gains: "we will see who controls that settlement." He dismissed Ukrainian claims that he is being fed inflated accounts of Russian progress.

What to watch now is whether Moscow confirms European seats for the next round, who speaks for Europe after Friday's lunch, and whether the Kostiantynivka mission and the proposed nonaggression pacts move forward.