By Guy Birchall
Europe will be represented at the talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States later this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Nov. 8.
“The Europeans will be well represented and France will be in Abu Dhabi to participate in these discussions. I cannot yet tell you who will represent France on this occasion, but it will certainly be there,” he told French radio station RTL.
“In recent weeks, Europeans have made their voices heard, expressing to the American mediator that no discussion concerning the future of the continent can disregard our expectations and demands,” he added, saying Paris “will make the voice of Europe heard, as it is the one most directly affected.”
Barrot’s comments come a week after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said that Washington would bring together delegations from Kyiv and Moscow on Nov. 10–11 to discuss ending the war.
“Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace,” he said in a Nov. 2 post on X.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, however, did not say that Europe would be represented at the talks, stressing that the discussions would be trilateral on Nov. 9.
“The coming days will see trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi between Russia and Ukraine, with the United States acting as mediator,” Peskov said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
“As for the Europeans’ presence, you know that the Americans have their own channels of communication with them, as do the Ukrainians. They are apparently already putting their own coordination mechanism in place. But let me repeat: the negotiations in Abu Dhabi will be trilateral.”
U.S. President Donald Trump also recently expressed hope that the conflict could soon end.
In a CBS “60 Minutes” interview broadcast Sunday, the president said he believed the war would end soon and suggested Ukraine would end up with changed borders after the agreement.
“I think we’re going to have it done, and I think it’s going to happen and they’re going to end up with a little bit different shape Ukraine,” he said, adding that he didn’t believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was trying to hoodwink him with his statements that he wants peace.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, however, expressed skepticism that Putin, with whom he spoke last month, actually wanted peace.
“I would be cautious,” Store told Politico in an interview published on Nov. 9, when asked what he expected to come out of the United Arab Emirates talks.
“Abu Dhabi is a stepping stone, and one output of it should be a follow-up quite soon after,” he said
According to Store, the Abu Dhabi agenda could include talks on a Black Sea ceasefire to allow safe grain transport, a ceasefire on energy infrastructure, a freeze of the front line, and other “confidence-building measures” such as prisoner swaps.
He did, however, say that he believed the United States is “seeking a way to end this war.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed on Monday that Moscow would be represented at the talks by Russian deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, according to TASS.
Ukraine’s delegation will be led by Rustem Umerov, head of Ukraine’s Foreign Intelligence Service, Ukrainian National News reported.
Umerov also said European nations would be in the UAE for the talks, but he did not say they would participate in three-way talks.
“We will hold separate coordination meetings with our European partners. It is fundamentally important for us to maintain close coordination with all our key partners, ensure that our positions are aligned and develop a common understanding of the next steps in the negotiating process,” he said.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed on Sunday that Washington would be represented by Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
