EU to Send Joint Group to Ukraine and Russia Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi
The European Commission and the European Council will dispatch a joint delegation to trilateral talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States. The meeting will take place in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November.
The European group will be led by Ursula von der Leyen’s Head of Cabinet Björn Seibert and António Costa’s foreign-policy adviser Anna-Maria Boura. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom will also take part in the talks alongside them.
Von der Leyen spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky the previous day. She endorsed his call for a ceasefire that would cover food and energy infrastructure and advocated for freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
Brussels is ready to speak directly with Moscow, but it is still unclear whether such a meeting can be organised.
The decision on the delegation’s composition was taken after a letter from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Costa. Meloni complained about the “chaos” in diplomatic formats and demanded that an EU special envoy be appointed.
The trilateral talks resume for the first time since February. The Ukrainian delegation will be led by Rustem Umerov, and the Russian delegation by Vladimir Medinsky. The United States will be represented by special envoys Steve Whitcoff and Jared Kushner.
