EU seeks a seat at Abu Dhabi talks on Ukraine’s future

The European Commission said its representatives would take part in the meetings. The EU delegation is expected to include Björn Seibert, chief of staff to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and Ana Maria Boura, foreign policy adviser to European Council President António Costa. France, Germany and the United Kingdom—the E3 group—will also be represented at national level.

The renewed push for a formal EU role follows criticism from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Last week, she said separate initiatives by Nordic countries and the E3 had created a “cacophony” and called for clarity about the EU’s place in the talks.

European concerns extend beyond a possible settlement in Ukraine. US President Donald Trump recently referred to a potential “big beautiful deal” with Russia, while his son-in-law Jared Kushner spoke of a European “security architecture.” European leaders objected to the prospect of others determining their security arrangements without them.

The term could cover arrangements intended to protect Europe while remaining acceptable to Russian President Vladimir Putin. One disputed issue is whether French or British troops might be deployed in Ukraine as security guarantees. Russia is likely to oppose such a presence: before its 2022 invasion, Putin demanded that Nato withdraw troops from countries that joined the alliance after 1997, including across Eastern Europe, as well as Sweden and Finland.

European governments argue that the problem is Russia’s failure to respect existing obligations, not a need for Europe to prove its good faith by withdrawing troops. For a deal to emerge, one side would have to yield on a major question, the source says: occupied Ukrainian territory or Nato. Trump said in an interview that he was confident an agreement was within reach and suggested Ukraine could end up in a “different form” from today. He has previously raised the possibility of Ukraine leaving Donbas and Crimea to Russia.