By John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) -European powers, including Britain, France and Germany, said on Wednesday they had to be part of any future negotiations on the fate of Ukraine, underscoring that only a fair accord with security guarantees would ensure lasting peace.
“Our shared objectives should be to put Ukraine in a position of strength. Ukraine and Europe must be part of any negotiations,” a joint statement of seven countries and the European Commission said.
“Ukraine should be provided with strong security guarantees. A just and lasting peace in Ukraine is a necessary condition for a strong transatlantic security,” the statement said, adding that the European powers were looking forward to discussing the way ahead with their American allies.
Ministers from France, Britain, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain and the European Commission met with Ukraine’s foreign minister in Paris on Wednesday.
The meeting, scheduled weeks ago, aimed at outlining the bloc’s defence strategy, discussing how to strengthen Ukraine, planning for future peace talks and discussing how to approach talks with the U.S. administration when they meet at a security conference in Munich this weekend.
But it was derailed after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered the bluntest public statements from the Trump administration on its approach to the nearly three-year war between Ukraine and Russia.
He said a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders was unrealistic and the U.S. did not see NATO membership for Kyiv as part of a solution to the war.
Hegseth’s comments were followed by a call by President Donald Trump with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said their teams had agreed to start negotiations immediately. European powers had not been made aware of the call beforehand and were surprised by the bluntness of Hegseth’s position, diplomats said.
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.”
(Reporting by Kristi Knolle and Ismail Shakil; additional reporting by Michelle Nichols at the United Nations; editing by Costas Pitas and Rod Nickel)
