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US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ireland this week following a visit to the Kremlin, after which they pushed for Europeans to be present at the negotiating table in future talks.
The pair landed at a military base near Dublin on Thursday, where they addressed the media alongside Zelenskyy.
Other matters, such as a ceasefire – or any concrete steps towards ending the war – took a back seat as the key point of progress announced by the trio was that European negotiators would be involved in future discussions on ending Russia’s all-out war on Ukraine.
Zelenskyy told reporters that Europe would have a “voice” during future talks and that it would not be kept “separately” on the sidelines – as had happened in recent trilateral negotiations between US, Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi.
“This is important for us because the war is in Europe. We will be member of EU in the future and that’s why it’s very important. For prosperity and for security guarantees it’s very important to have Europe,” Zelenskyy said.
In a post on X, Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, added: “Both sides have now agreed to expand the next round of negotiations to include our European partners.”
“This will allow us to address the broader postwar European security arrangements alongside the territorial issues between Ukraine and Russia,” he wrote.
Moscow has not confirmed whether it has agreed to include European negotiators in subsequent talks.
In comments shared by the Russian foreign ministry on Friday morning, presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said: “For our part, the position of the Europeans has been comprehensively outlined. They are striving by every means possible to join the negotiations, but, as our President has said, they must decide whether they want peace or the continuation of the war.”
It comes after Witkoff and Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week.
During their meeting, Putin signalled that Russia would not back down on territorial demands to control parts of Ukraine and rejected the idea of foreign peacekeeping troops being deployed in the country, dampening hopes of a nearing deal to end the war.