Witkoff Says Europeans Will Join the Next Round of Ukraine Peace Talks on November 12: The Kremlin Meeting Lasted About Two and a Half Hours, and Zelenskiy Welcomed the Prospect in Dublin

MOSCOW, Russia, and DUBLIN, Ireland — United States envoy Steve Witkoff said after talks with President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on November 12 that European representatives would join the next round of Ukraine peace talks, Reuters reported. The meeting lasted about two and a half hours and was attended by Witkoff and fellow envoy Jared Kushner.

Witkoff told Russian state television that the Europeans would join at the next meeting, which the United States considered a very important moment because the Europeans are United States partners and it is important that they take part. During the Kremlin talks, Kushner told Putin that Washington had detected what he called a big change on the European side and was confident that expanding the talks to include the Europeans would not hinder progress.

Putin said Moscow had never been opposed to engaging in dialogue with Europe and had never broken off that dialogue, saying it was the Europeans who broke it off. He also said the European idea of sending Western troops into Ukraine once a peace deal was concluded would trigger a resumption of the war because Russia would see it as a threat to its own security. He said the United States administration should work with its European allies so they could finally make up their minds whether they wanted peace or war in Ukraine.

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov, briefing after the talks, did not confirm that the Europeans would join the next round of peace talks and said their current stance on Ukraine amounted to a recipe for endless war.

Witkoff and Kushner later flew to Ireland and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Dublin. Zelenskiy welcomed news that Europeans would be present at the next round of talks and expressed hope that the agenda would include steps towards a ceasefire and de-escalation. He said it was important that everything be unblocked and that the sides had decided to work on an agenda about de-escalation and ceasefires.

The two days of trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi this week were the first direct United States mediated negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in nine months. Kyiv and Moscow said there had been some progress but that major differences remained, including on territorial issues. Reuters said Russia holds about one fifth of Ukraine and Kyiv refuses to give up the rest of the Donbas region in its east.

Source: Reuters

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：莫斯科克里姆林宫（资料图，本轮会谈地点）。Alexxx1979 摄，维基共享资源 CC BY-SA 4.0。 / Photo: The Moscow Kremlin (file photo, venue of this round of talks). Photo by Alexxx1979, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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