Europe insists Putin end Ukraine war before discussing Russia’s concerns

• Europe says Russia must stop the war in Ukraine before talks on wider security concerns. Officials also reject Putin’s pre-war demands and any rollback of NATO in Eastern Europe.
• The US wants security issues discussed alongside peace talks, which worries European capitals. Jared Kushner said the aim is to find “practical arrangements” and five goals for long-term security.
• Key issues remain Ukraine’s security guarantees, possible Article 5-style support, and Russia’s ban on Western troops in Ukraine. Talks may resume in Abu Dhabi, but Europe doubts Putin wants real peace.

BRUSSELS – European nations want Russia to halt its war against Ukraine before entertaining any talk of the Kremlin’s concerns about the continent’s broader security architecture, people familiar with the matter said, a stance that risks putting them at odds with the US over the best way to end the conflict.

European officials are also adamant that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pre-war demands that would effectively roll back NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe are still unacceptable, said the people, who asked not to be identified to discuss private deliberations.

One of the main goals of the existing security framework is to deter Russia from attacking Europe.

It would make little sense to have such discussions while Moscow continues to wage war against Ukraine and is violating an array of existing agreements, some of the people said.

That approach risks further tension with the Trump administration, which has been pushing to include proposals about Europe’s so-called security architecture in parallel to other topics in ongoing peace talks with Russia.

Russian, Ukrainian and US officials are due to meet in Abu Dhabi next week, resuming negotiations for the first time since February.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy, wrote in a post on X that the US objective was 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,” Kushner said in the post following talks with European and Ukrainian officials.

The apparent US push to reach a deal has unnerved some European capitals.

“We shouldn’t be wanting peace more than Putin does,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in Warsaw on Nov 5. 

The US approach has also faced pushback from congressional Democrats.

That is a problem for Trump given that Democrats are set to take majorities of both houses of Congress after this week’s midterm elections.

They and like-minded Republicans could complicate Trump’s efforts to accommodate Putin.

“We already have a European security architecture. It’s called NATO,” Senator Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, said on X in response to Kushner’s post. “And the greatest threat to European security isn’t a lack of dialogue. It’s Vladimir Putin.”

Beyond overlapping with NATO, Kushner’s proposal would also appear to duplicate many of the objectives of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a body dating back to the 1970s that includes the US, Russia and many European nations and whose goal is to ensure stability and peace across the continent.

One sticking point continues to be the details of security guarantees that allies would provide Ukraine to ensure that Russia does not attack it again if a peace deal is reached – and, if it does, what help would Kyiv be provided with, according to the people.

Moscow is against any Western military presence in Ukraine, a condition that Kyiv and its European allies see as necessary to deter Russia from attacking its neighbour in the future, the people said.

Allies, including the US, have been discussing giving Ukraine guarantees similar to NATO’s mutual defence clause, known as Article 5.

That support would include weapons and other capabilities, though Kyiv’s first line of defence would be its own army.

Russia has previously demanded that its size and capabilities be restricted.

The people stressed that a ceasefire needed to come before any agreements relating to post-war security, and such arrangements would need buy-in from all European nations.

In the Abu Dhabi talks, Ukraine and Russia are expected to pick up where they left off, including with discussions on how any peace agreement would be implemented and monitored, as well as potential de-escalation measures.

European officials will likely be in the city but are expected to take part in talks only if there is sufficient progress, the people said.

Negotiations over territory have been mostly parked for now, as they require higher-level political decisions.

Putin remains adamant that he wants the entirety of the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine and has shown no sign of moving from that position, the people said.

European officials continue to believe the Russian President currently has no interest in seriously engaging in talks to end the war in the coming months and is focused on trying to break Ukraine’s morale through an intensive bombing campaign, even as his troops make no advances on the ground and suffer record losses.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff “think it’s about territory”, Sikorski said. “No, it’s not. It’s about rebuilding the Russian empire.”

“It looks like sometimes more pressure is being put on the victim than the aggressor,” he said. BLOOMBERG