Nothing about ending Russia’s war against Ukraine should be decided without the Ukrainians, European ministers said on Wednesday. “Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” a joint statement of seven countries and the European Commission said. John Healey, the British defence secretary, told Sky News: “It’s the Ukrainians that are doing the fighting. It’s for them to decide when to start talking and on what terms.”
As ministers from France, Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Commission met with Ukraine’s foreign minister in Paris on Wednesday, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the US did not see Nato membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.
Hegseth’s comments were followed by a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said their teams had agreed to start negotiations immediately and he would meet the Russian president in Saudi Arabia. The US president underlined he was “OK” with Ukraine being barred from Nato and cared little if Russia kept the land it had invaded. When asked if any European countries would be involved in peace talks, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: “I don’t have any European nations who are involved currently to read out for you.”
