European powers – including Britain, France and Germany – have said they have to be part of any future negotiations on the fate of Ukraine, underscoring that only a fair accord with security guarantees would ensure lasting peace.
“Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” seven European countries and the European Commission said in a joint statement after a foreign ministers meeting in Paris.
“Ukraine should be provided with strong security guarantees. A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is a necessary condition for a strong transatlantic security,” the statement said, adding the European powers were looking forward to discussing the way ahead with their American allies.
The meeting and statement comes after US president Donald Trump said he had spoken to Russian president Vladimir Putin and that the pair were ready to immediately begin negotiating an end to the war in Ukraine.
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Mr Trump held lengthy phone calls with Mr Putin and Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday and afterwards announced “it is time to stop this ridiculous war where there has been massive and totally unnecessary death and destruction”.
The conversations opened the possibility of Mr Trump visiting the Russian president in Moscow or of Mr Putin travelling to the White House in what would be an extraordinary thaw in US-Russia relations.
Mr Trump, who vowed throughout his presidential campaign to bring a swift end to the Ukraine war, stated in a post on his Truth Social platform that his conversation with Mr Zelenskiy went “very well”.
“He, like president [Vladimir] Putin, wants to make PEACE,” Mr Trump said, adding that Mr Zelenskiy would meet US vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on Friday.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte also said on Thursday that any peace deal in Ukraine must be enduring and that any discussions must include Kyiv.
“It is crucial that whatever comes out of those talks, it is durable, it is enduring,” Mr Rutte told reporters in Brussels ahead of talks with the alliance’s defence ministers.
The secretary general also said it is crucial “that Ukraine is closely involved in everything happening about Ukraine”.
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UK defence secretary John Healey said there will be no talks about Ukraine without Ukraine involved.
This was echoed by German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock. “We can’t have talks without involving Ukraine. Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in,” she said.
Ms Baerbock said she had not been informed of Mr Trump’s calls with Mr Putin and Mr Zelenskiy in advance.
“This is the way the Trump administration operates. That is why constant mutual communication is needed with the various players.”
Speaking before Thursday’s Nato defence ministers' meeting in Brussels, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said the Russian aggression on Ukraine was “a factory reset for Nato,” and a moment of “realisation that this alliance needs to be robust, strong, and real”.
He said standing up to Russian aggression is “an important European responsibility” and praised Mr Trump as “the best negotiator on the planet” for bringing both sides to the table in pursuit of peace.
Questioned on whether the rapid push to talks with Mr Putin could be seen as a betrayal of Ukraine, Mr Hegseth said: “That is your language, not mine. Certainly not a betrayal.
“There is no betrayal; there is a recognition that the whole world and the US is invested in peace, in a negotiated peace,” he said.
Arriving at the Nato meeting in Brussels, French defence minister Sebastien Lecornu warned against “peace through weakness” rather than the Trump officials’ mantra of “peace through strength”.
In a sign of the tension between the Trump administration and Europe, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said it would have been better if Washington had not given what he called concessions to Moscow before peace talks even started.
Lithuanian defence minister Dovile Sakaliene warned that Europe should not fall “under the illusion that Mr Trump and Mr Putin are going to find the solution for all of us” as that would be a “deadly trap”.
Mr Trump has ordered top US officials to begin talks on ending the war, but has not spelt out exactly how he would accomplish this. – Agencies
