Ukraine’s allies are working for a “just and sustainable” end to the war ahead of US-mediated talks next week in Abu Dhabi, Nato said on Friday, after US President Donald Trump touted a deal with Russia involving “all of Europe.”
Talks in Brussels on Thursday involving Nato, US, Ukrainian and European officials “built on productive discussions in Miami and Oslo and sought to advance a just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine,” an alliance spokeswoman said.
Trump on Thursday predicted a “very big” deal with Russia involving not only the Ukraine war but “all of Europe,” in remarks that will fuel fears on the continent of a pivot towards the Kremlin.
Jared Kushner, the president’s envoy and son-in-law, said the United States was working on “a broader European security architecture that can help establish the conditions for lasting peace.”
Kushner, who participated in the Brussels talks via video link, said that Washington’s “objective is to develop practical arrangements that address the security concerns of all sides.”
“We are exploring five principal goals: permanent security consultations, reliable crisis communications, greater military transparency, reciprocal measures to reduce escalation risks, and an enduring framework for long-term European security and stability,” he posted online.
He insisted that “any arrangements must fully respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independent decision-making of every nation” and said Nato would “remain central to European collective defense.”
The US push will rattle Washington’s European allies, who have long rejected Moscow’s desire to rewrite the European security architecture.
Before launching the war in Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin delivered an ultimatum to Nato which included a demand that the alliance’s troops be withdrawn from eastern Europe.
That was rejected by the Western military alliance.
Europe has meanwhile been seeking to play a bigger role in the US-led push to end the fighting.
Kushner said that Washington will “consult closely with our European partners on the sidelines” of the Abu Dhabi talks and “if progress is made, aim to move toward a broader multilateral format with their direct participation.”