Before the Ukrainian and Russian teams met, preparatory talks took place Tuesday morning in Abu Dhabi between the European powers, Ukraine and the American team. Two officials close to those discussions, who were granted anonymity to discuss confidential matters, said those initial talks had been substantive and the mood was positive.
The topic of Europe’s future security architecture is extremely sensitive for European governments, who fear that President Donald Trump is preparing to radically reduce U.S. support for security in their region, after years of denigrating NATO allies.
Russia has demanded a say in scaling back NATO efforts in Europe and has repeatedly insisted that Ukraine should never join the alliance, something kyiv and its closest allies have traditionally supported.
A crucial question is that of sequencing. Will a deal on broader European security be part of a final Ukraine peace deal or come later? Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and some of his strongest supporters have said in the past that Russia has no room to demand a broader agreement between Europe and NATO as a condition for ending the war.
The Abu Dhabi talks mark the first time in nine months that Ukrainian and Russian negotiators have met with U.S. representatives for trilateral peace talks. Trump envoys Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, and Witkoff are leading the U.S. side and working to broaden the scope of the debate to include Europe’s future security and for Europe to have a seat at the table.
Since Trump returned to the White House last year, his administration has publicly and privately criticized the Europeans for not doing enough to take responsibility for their own defense. Under US pressure, NATO allies agreed new targets to increase their security and defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035.
Gn world
