Europe fumes over exclusion from Trump-Putin talks on Ukraine

Brussels — European leaders scrambled on Thursday to try to get a seat at the table in Ukraine peace talks after US President Donald Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and   announced the start of negotiations.

Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky afterwards to brief him on the call.

The move sent shock waves through European capitals, which want a central role in peace talks as any settlement in Ukraine, hit by a full-scale Russian invasion three years ago, will have ramifications for their own security.

“Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in,” German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock told Deutschlandfunk radio in an interview.

Arriving at a defence alliance Nato meeting in Brussels, French defence minister Sébastien Lecornu warned against “peace through weakness” rather than the Trump officials’ mantra of “peace through strength”.

In a sign of the tension between the Trump administration and Europe, German defence minister Boris Pistorius said it would have been better if Washington had not given “concessions to Moscow” before peace talks even started.

‘Deadly trap’

Lithuanian defence minister Dovile Šakalienė warned Europe should not fall “under the illusion that Mr Trump and Mr Putin are going to find the solution for all of us” as that would be a “deadly trap”.

At Nato headquarters, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth defended the US approach, saying the world was fortunate to have Trump, the “best negotiator on the planet, bringing two sides together to find a negotiated peace”.

When asked if any European countries would be involved in peace talks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday: “I don’t have any European nations who are involved currently to read out for you.”

Many European officials had hoped that a series of meetings with officials in Brussels and Munich this week would be their opportunity to influence US thinking on the war. But it soon became clear that the Trump administration was moving ahead without them.

Hegseth declared publicly on Wednesday it was unrealistic for Ukraine to return to pre-2014 borders and Nato membership for Kyiv would not be part of a peace deal.

Russia seized and annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in 2014.

Hours after Hegseth spoke, Trump said he had held a “highly productive phone call” with Putin and they had agreed to start negotiations immediately.

In a late-night statement after talks in Paris on Wednesday, foreign ministers from European powers — including Britain, France and Germany — said Europe must be part of any future negotiations on Ukraine.

A European diplomatic source said the ministers agreed they would engage in a “frank and demanding dialogue” with US officials at the annual Munich Security Conference, a three-day gathering in the southern German city from Friday.

European leaders have said they needed to be involved in talks as Washington had made clear they were expected to provide security guarantees for any peace deal, which could mean European troops being deployed to Ukraine.

“There is no option to not be at the table, because we are very important in the actual implementation of those security guarantees,” said Dutch defence minister Ruben Brekelmans.

Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte sought to play down the differences within the alliance, telling reporters there was “a clear convergence” on key points.

“We all want peace in Ukraine rather sooner than later. We all want Ukraine to be in the best possible position when those talks start ... and ... it is crucial that whatever comes out of those talks, it is durable,” Rutte told reporters.

Reuters