European voice in Ukraine peace talks must include UK, Taoiseach says

Detailed summary

Micheál Martin acknowledged that pressure was increasing on European nations to agree how they would be represented in peace negotiations.

A European voice at the Ukraine peace talks cannot be confined to EU member states and countries like the UK should have a role, Ireland’s premier has said.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin acknowledged that pressure was increasing for European nations to agree how they would be represented in negotiations involving Ukraine, Russia and the US when they resume.

Mr Martin was speaking ahead of an informal meeting of the EU Council in Dublin on Friday.

Mr Kushner was speaking after he and fellow US envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a Dublin military airbase – discussions that took place shortly after US President Donald Trump’s representatives held a similar meeting with Mr Putin in Moscow.

The exchanges followed talks involving the US envoys and delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi earlier in the week – negotiations that did not make substantive progress toward ending the conflict but did see the warring sides agree to a significant prisoner release deal.

Dublin has become a focal point for deliberations around efforts to end the war this week because the city has been hosting two major political meetings across two days.

EU leaders also convened in the Irish capital on Thursday when they were joined by a range of other allies and partners, including UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, for a meeting of the European Political Community (EPC).

He added: “The discussions today will focus perhaps both on the content and the type of peace that Europe wants to secure, the sustainable peace, and then also in terms of there will be discussion, obviously, in terms of who represents Europe.”

The Taoiseach was asked whether the E3 coalition of the UK, France and Germany should take the lead when it comes to representing the continent. Officials from the E3 have been involved in the margins of the process to date.

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