But at the core of this week’s talks has been the issue of European security architecture. Earlier Kushner said the US hoped to “create a new framework” of security between Ukraine, Russia and Europe that could “secure lasting peace”, while Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said it was “clear that the current system does not work.”
Ukraine and Europe have long been concerned about the current US administration’s commitment to European security and its softening towards the Kremlin and that decisions about their continent could be made without them.
Zelensky said he found the US approach of discussing a new European security order with Russia “a bit strange”.
“It is a significant shift in the US position that the US has now taken on board the Russian demand that the European security architecture needs to be discussed and agreed upon in parallel with the Ukraine peace talks,” said the Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute Kristi Raik.
She said the Russians have a “long history” of wanting to revise European security architecture, intended as core principles “like sovereignty, territorial integrity, the principle that there is no use of force to some conflicts”.
Russia “has long looked to reduced Nato presence on the Eastern flank and that… get some kind of veto rights in decisions concerning European security and defence,” Raik said. “And that’s where it gets even more difficult to imagine that there could be an agreement between the Europeans and the Russians.”
On Thursday, Putin again repeated that the presence of foreign troops in Ukraine was “unacceptable” to Russia, and said Russia would like the Americans to engage with Europe “so that the Europeans can decide what they truly want: peace or war”.
During the first years of the war, Europeans cut communications with the Kremlin and refused to engage with Russia directly.
That position has now shifted for many as concern that decisions about the European continent could be made without European involvement.
Kushner also urged Europe to “identify one person to speak on their behalf” in the negotiations.
Top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas told the BBC’s Newshour programme the presence of a European official at the next meeting showed the Kremlin had “now realised that Europe is a big player here because we are the ones who have been supporting Ukraine”.
With financial pressures on European budgets, Kallas said it was “becoming harder to help Ukraine”, but warned of the “the danger not only for the eastern flank of the European Union but actually for our whole continent” if Russian aggression was allowed to continue.
The Kremlin has not confirmed the make-up of next week’s talks, and at the start of the meeting, Putin had indicated he didn’t want European countries to play a full role. The Russians have long cited Europe’s support for Kyiv as an obstacle to their involvement.
Speaking to Kushner and Witkoff, Putin said he was encouraging them “to work with your European allies so that they finally decide whether they want peace or war in Ukraine.”
