The US is maintaining close contact with Russia, Ukraine and its European partners and is preparing the next round of trilateral talks on the war, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Jared Kushner said.
“We are currently focused on facilitating direct engagement between Moscow and its European partners, as well as preparing the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks,” Kushner wrote. According to him, “a number of new ideas” have emerged in the discussions and are currently being examined. Some of them could lead to a breakthrough, while others could become new proposals for overcoming the remaining differences.
Talks in Abu Dhabi, Moscow and Dublin
The statement followed a series of diplomatic meetings throughout the week. US representatives Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff took part in talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, and then spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin.
The two-day talks in the United Arab Emirates ended with a plan for a new large-scale exchange of prisoners of war, but without an agreement to end the war or on the main political issues. The territorial dispute and future security guarantees for Ukraine remain among the most difficult issues.
During the meetings, Kushner and Witkoff discussed the possibility of European countries becoming more directly involved in the diplomatic process. Moscow has so far opposed the participation of European representatives in the main negotiating format, while Kyiv and its European partners insist that Europe should have a place in discussions about the continent’s future security.
Washington calls for guarantees for Ukraine
Kushner stressed that, according to Trump, lasting peace requires reliable security guarantees for Ukraine and detailed, enforceable post-war arrangements that would reduce the risk of a new conflict.
“Trump made it clear that achieving lasting peace requires serious security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as detailed and practical post-war security arrangements that will reduce the risk of a new war,” Kushner wrote.
He added that NATO would remain an important pillar of European security, backed by stronger mechanisms for military communication, preventing dangerous incidents and mutually reducing tensions.
Zelensky: There must first be an end to the war
Zelensky said that the US had raised the issue of a possible new security framework in Europe, but warned that Moscow could use such discussions to weaken NATO and impose changes to the continent’s borders and military balance.
The Ukrainian president insisted that the proper sequence was a ceasefire, an end to the war and then security guarantees for Ukraine. He rejected the possibility of Kyiv recognizing the occupied territories as Russian or accepting neutrality as a condition for a future agreement.
The next round of talks does not yet have a publicly announced date. The US side says the goal is to prepare new proposals and create conditions for a broader format in which European partners would participate directly.
Sources: cbsnews.com, aljazeera.com