Europe will not be part of Ukraine peace talks, US envoy says

Trump administration officials have also made clear in recent days that they expect European allies in NATO to take primary responsibility for the region as the US now has other priorities, such as border security and countering China.

Asked if he could assure the audience that Ukrainians and Europeans would be at the table for talks, General Keith Kellogg told a global security conference in Munich: “The answer to that last question (regarding Europeans), just as you framed it, the answer is no.”

Ukrainians, however, will “of course” be at the table, he said, adding it would be foolish to suggest otherwise.

This triggered an immediate rebuke from European leaders.

“There’s no way in which we can have discussions or negotiations about Ukraine, Ukraine’s future or European security structure, without Europeans,” Finland’s President Alexander Stubb told the same security conference in Munich.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks during the Munich Security Conference at the Bayerischer Hof Hotel in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

“But this means that Europe needs to get its act together. Europe needs to talk less and do more.”

Stubb said the questionnaire the US sent to Europeans “will force Europeans to think”.

A European diplomat said the US document included six questions with one specifically for European Union member states.

“The Americans are approaching European capitals and asking how many soldiers they are ready to deploy,” one diplomat said.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also urged Europeans to get their act together.

“And to my European friends, I would say, get into the debate, not by complaining that you might, yes or no, be at the table, but by coming up with concrete proposals, ideas, ramp up (defence) spending,” he said in Munich.

France is discussing with its allies the possibility of holding an informal meeting among European leaders on Ukraine to discuss these matters, although nothing has been decided at this stage, a French presidency official said on Saturday.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said it would take place on Monday.

Kellogg told the conference that talks aimed at ending the war between Russia and Ukraine could focus on territorial concessions from Russia and targeting Putin’s oil revenues.

“Russia is really a petrostate,” he said, adding that Western powers needed to do more regarding effectively enforcing sanctions on Russia.

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