The formula is repeated like a mantra by Kyiv's European allies: There can be no negotiations on Ukraine without Ukraine, and no discussions on Europe without Europe. After nearly three years of conflict, both sides are doing their utmost to get to the negotiating table, which Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to launch "immediately" on Wednesday, February 12, over the phone. "Whatever the 'deal' is, it can't be done without Europe. The war is in Europe, which is why we need to be at the table and cannot be left out," Kaja Kallas stressed in an interview with Le Monde.
The European Union's high representative for foreign affairs was in Paris that evening to meet her counterparts from the main European states, accompanied by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, at a time when pressure from the Trump administration is mounting to force negotiations with Putin's Russia. And the big moves in Moscow and Washington have begun.
It seems only natural that Ukraine should be involved in the negotiations, seeing as said negotiations are all about Ukraine. While Putin disputes the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance on Friday at the Munich Security Conference in Germany. A trip by the Ukrainian leader to the White House to meet Trump is also being considered.
Painful memory
Access to rare earths, exchange of territories: The leader of the Ukrainian resistance has made several offers to curry favor with the unpredictable Republican president. Because, deep down, he may fear that Trump will make peace on his Russian counterpart's terms, if he were to accept, even if it means forcing Kyiv's hand, a kind of conflict freeze based on major territorial concessions, or even a neutralization of Ukraine, to prevent it from one day joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Less existential, the European concern for a seat at the negotiating table is of a different nature. Representatives of the Trump administration, including JD Vance and Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, will be in Munich, where they will meet their counterparts from the continent, but they are cultivating vagueness about their intentions. Neither Trump nor Putin, who shows no sign of willingness to end the fighting, have yet made the slightest promise to secure a place for the Europeans. "There will be no just and lasting peace in Ukraine without the participation of the Europeans," warned French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot after the news of the telephone call between Trump and Putin.
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