Europe to send team of five nations plus EU to Ukraine talks

Forty European nations back declaration on who decides security

Leaders at the Dublin summit weighed whether Europe should be represented by a single person or a team. A team allows participation by members of the “coalition of the willing,” a group of nations that have pledged to underpin a future ceasefire with military support — including the U.K., which left the EU in 2020. Poland, the AP reported, is a voice for nations on the EU’s eastern flank that face constant hybrid threats from Russia, including influence campaigns and disruptive drones.

It was not immediately clear who would represent the EU’s institutions. Speculation had centered on Costa and the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas. Costa faced criticism within the EU earlier this year after his office set up a back-channel with Moscow.

Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, laid claim to the envoy role Friday. “I’m the one who is representing Europe in the foreign and security policy,” she said. “I know that the Russians don’t want me, but, you know, do we have a say, who is representing Russia?” she added. “We can’t send any person that has no institutional role like the Americans are sending.”

Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies and is reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a U.S. administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.

European leaders also distrust U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate on their behalf after a series of tense standoffs over trade, Greenland and conflicts in Iran and Ukraine, according to the AP.

“Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” Macron said Thursday at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin. “There is no more U.S. support.” He added: “At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans.”

After Thursday’s meeting of the European Political Community — a larger group than the EU with members including the U.K. and Ukraine — Macron’s office published what he called a “historic declaration” by 40 European nations affirming support for Ukraine and the continent’s collective security. It affirmed that “the path to peace in Ukraine should be decided with Ukraine and that any matter affecting European security should be decided with the Europeans.”

European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin will press Trump to back a peace settlement that weakens not just Ukraine but broader European security. Putin has demanded NATO troops be pulled back from Russia’s borders and that no European forces be deployed in Ukraine.

As envoys from Washington, Moscow and Kyiv met in Abu Dhabi, several European countries, including the U.K., France and Germany, attended discussions nearby. After Kushner met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin late Thursday, both said Europe would be part of the next round of talks. Zelenskyy said Europe would send a negotiating team, adding, “They will have a voice.”

“We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” Kushner said. He said Putin “is willing to give it a try.”

Peskov said Thursday that Europe must first name a representative. “The Europeans squabble like spiders in a jar.”

Supporters of a single envoy, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, argued that the absence of a united European voice has allowed individual countries or small groups to engage in freelance diplomacy. “There are too many different groupings discussing the issue,” she said. Meloni has criticized a series of seemingly uncoordinated initiatives, including an October call to Putin by Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, that she said could undermine European interests.

Martin said that European representation at the negotiations “can’t just be European Union.” “It’s a European continentwide issue,” he said, pointing to the role of Norway and Britain in supporting Ukraine.

The question of who represents Europe is an old one, the AP reported. Europe itself is loosely defined: the 27-nation EU, the 32-nation NATO military alliance made up mostly of European countries, the 29-nation Schengen zone, or the 47-nation European Political Community. That has long frustrated Washington.

After this week’s U.S.-brokered talks between Ukraine and Russia in the United Arab Emirates, Kushner said that “if Europe could identify one person to speak on their behalf, that would be a bigger achievement than getting the Russians to include them in the negotiation.” The remark echoes the question often misattributed to former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?”

Some leaders deeply distrust the U.S.-brokered talks. “In my opinion, calling them negotiations is an exaggeration,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Thursday. “We will not build a new security architecture simply because the Russian president, or someone in the United States, wishes it.”

With Trump due to head to Beijing next week to meet Putin, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders feared another “Anchorage moment,” a reference to the Alaska summit where they were stunned by Trump’s overtures to the Russian leader in the absence of Ukrainian or European envoys. “Please, no surprises,” Merz said. “Continue to play in team Europe and in the team with Ukraine.”

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs noted that Europe is larger than Russia in population, economy and military might. “We as Europe have to grow some bigger balls,” he said.