US demands a seat for Europe at Ukraine peace talks

ABU DHABI — European governments’ long-running and sometimes bad-tempered debate over who should represent them in Ukraine peace talks just became urgent. Donald Trump’s envoys are pressing Russia to allow Europe to join the next round of negotiations aimed at resolving the Ukraine war, according to U.S. officials granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff will push the case for Europe to have a direct role in future talks as they mediate the first trilateral discussion with Russia and Ukraine since February in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, the officials said. European governments and EU institutions will likely not have long to decide who they want at the negotiating table on their behalf. Kushner and Witkoff want to step up the pace of the talks and for this week’s meeting to be the last without Europe’s full participation, the same officials said.

“We need Europe at the table,” one of the officials said.