Unlike Trump, the Kremlin does not believe that negotiations on peace in Ukraine are imminent. "Preparing this meeting will take time. It could be weeks or even months," warned the government's spokesman, Dmitri Peskov, in an interview. He sees Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) as a venue for the meeting between the American and Russian leaders "convenient for both countries." However, Moscow insists that its ideal scenario is the one that Trump is actually proposing: without the European Union and among the European allies at the negotiating table. "Our main interlocutor in this process is Washington," Peskov stressed. As for Ukraine, however, the Kremlin assures that "one way or another" Ukraine must be part of the peace negotiations, although it counters that, despite Trump's optimism, they have not yet made any decision on how, when and where the first negotiating table can be held.
Zelensky demands to participate in the negotiations and warns that he will not accept an agreement between Trump and Putin
The European Union and Kiev want to avoid being excluded from the resolution of the conflict and fear Washington's unilateralism.
BrusselsEuropean leaders and Volodymyr Zelensky want to avoid exactly what is already happening at this point: being excluded from the resolution of the war in UkraineDonald Trump announced on Wednesday that he had agreed by telephone with Vladimir Putin that negotiations would start "immediately" without giving prior notice to Kiev, and even less to Brussels. Only later, once he had made public the understanding with Moscow, did he personally communicate the news to the Ukrainian president by telephone. And, as for the European Union, it has not received any call or warning from Trump to stand up against Russia.
In addition, this Wednesday, the US Secretary of State for Defense, Pete Hegseth, wanted to lay the groundwork for potential negotiations and already conceded some of Putin's main demands even before sitting down to negotiate. Thus, the head of the Pentagon almost gave up on Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine, which Russian troops already occupied in 2014, and ruled out Ukraine's accession to NATO, which it controls. de facto United States. According to Hegseth, this is the only way to achieve peace and stop "prolonging the war and causing even more suffering."
The unilateralism of the Trump administration has set off alarm bells in Kiev and Brussels, and Ukraine in particular has demanded a seat at the future negotiating table. Zelensky himself has made it clear that he does not intend to accept any kind of understanding without the participation and approval of the Ukrainians. "I am making it very clear to our partners: any bilateral negotiations on Ukraine, [...] we will not accept them," said the Ukrainian president in statements to the media from the Ukrainian region of Khmelnitsky, according to the Ukrainian public agency, Ukrinform.
Apart from Ukraine, the defence ministers of NATO's European allies have also unanimously claimed the decisive role they have played in the defence of the Ukrainian country and stressed that no kind of understanding can be reached without leaving Europe out of the negotiations. The toughest partner of the Atlantic Alliance has been Germany, one of the large EU countries with a more Atlanticist tradition. "It is clear that we must be at the negotiating table," stressed the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius. Major allies such as the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the European Union as a whole have expressed themselves in the same vein. "There will be no credible and successful negotiations without Ukraine and the EU," tweeted the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa.
Pistorius' criticism of the Pentagon chief's speech, however, did not end there, and he criticised the fact that the United States was already giving in on some of Putin's demands before starting to negotiate. "It would have been better to first talk at the negotiating table about Ukraine's possible accession to NATO or possible territorial losses," Pistorius said. The head of European diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, went even further and, after meeting with the Ukrainian Minister of Defence, Rustem Umerov, assured that "the Ukrainians remain firm and will not give up their freedom or their territory."
All this debate about potential negotiations comes just on the eve of the Munich Conference, where Zelensky is expected to meet with the US vice president, JD Vance, and Keith Kellogg, the White House special envoy to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. According toBloomberg, the US intends to present its peace plan for Ukraine, which would be in line with what the head of the Pentagon has advanced this Wednesday and Thursday at the NATO summit in Brussels.
NATO wants to "involve" Ukraine in the negotiations
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte did not at any point advocate that Europe should sit in on potential negotiations, but on Thursday he did point out that Zelensky should have a reserved seat. "Ukraine must participate in everything that has to do with Ukraine," insisted the leader of the largest military entity in the world. However, he has completely changed the position of the Atlantic Alliance on the future of the Ukrainian country and is now distancing it from NATO. "There was never a promise in Ukraine that, as part of a peace agreement, it would enter NATO," said the former prime minister of the Netherlands.
Now, it remains to be seen to what extent Ukraine can really say its part in front of Russia. Rutte, which is fully aligned with the Pentagon, never tires of repeating that NATO must ensure that Kiev comes to the negotiating table in a strong manner, but the New York president's moves only serve to weaken it.
Trump has been threatening Zelensky for weeks with withdrawing his arms and financial support. This Tuesday he said that "Ukraine could one day be Russian" If Ukraine does not agree to a deal, it is leaving Europe out of the conflict and is already ceding territory to Putin before the discussions even begin. And, of course, the weaker Ukraine comes into the negotiations, the more it will be forced to cave in to the United States and Russia.