Europe tries not to be excluded from negotiations on Ukraine

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 Kiev any prior notice, let alone Brussels. Only later, once he had made the understanding with Moscow public, did he personally convey 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 join forces against Russia.

In this context, the Munich security summit begins this Friday, where Zelensky is scheduled to meet with representatives of the Trump administration to try to move these negotiations forward. In an interview published this Friday in the Financial Times, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, issued a warning to Trump not to agree to "a capitulation" of Ukraine. "A peace that is a capitulation would be very bad news for everyone," said Macron.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted to lay the groundwork for potential negotiations and had already conceded to some of Putin's top demands even before the negotiations. The Pentagon chief thus gave up Crimea and the eastern part of Ukraine that Russian troops had already occupied in 2014, and ruled out Ukraine joining NATO, which they control. 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.

Zelensky has met with three European presidents: the Polish Donald Tusk, the Lithuanian Gitanas Nausėda and the Spanish Pedro Sánchez. The Ukrainian assures that he has informed Sánchez about the conversation with Trump and thanks Spain for the support.

Pistorius' criticism of the Pentagon chief's speech, however, has not ended here, and he has criticized that the United States is 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, has gone even further and, after meeting with the Ukrainian Minister of Defense, Rustem Umérov, has assured that "the Ukrainians remain firm and will not give up their freedom or their territory."

All this talk about potential negotiations comes just before the Munich Conference, where Zelensky is expected to meet with 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. On 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.