Germany, France, UK Sketch Plan for Putin Talks on Ukraine

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(Bloomberg) — A group of Ukraine’s key European allies are working on plans with Kyiv to engage Russia in negotiations to end the war as they see a shift in momentum strengthening President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s position.

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Officials from Europe’s three biggest economies — Germany, France and the UK — have been discussing the possibility of holding talks involving both sides, according to people familiar with the matter. They have also talked about the matter with their Ukrainian counterparts, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.

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Spokespeople for France and the UK didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. A German government spokesman declined to comment. 

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Zelenskyy said late Wednesday he’d discussed “our joint diplomacy with Europe” in a call with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 

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“Europe definitely needs its own voice, its own position, and its own contribution to all diplomatic efforts that can help end the war,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the X platform. “We coordinated on how to get there.”

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With US-led talks stalled and Russian forces suffering mounting losses amid a stalemate on the battlefield, the three nations see an opportunity to potentially bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, the people said. Adding to the pressure on the Kremlin, Ukrainian forces have had increasing success with drone strikes deep inside Russia and there are some signs of resistance to Putin’s war at the highest levels in Moscow. 

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By negotiating now, the allies would aim to avoid another winter that will likely see Russia intensify its attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure as Putin seeks to undermine the Ukrainian morale.  

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The people stressed that any final decision on whether to proceed with attempts to talk to Russia was for Zelenskyy and that European nations will not push the Ukrainian president to embrace a strategy he didn’t agree with. Starmer is expected to speak with Germany’s Friedrich Merz and Emmanuel Macron of France in the coming days, said the people.

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It’s far from clear that Putin is willing to engage with European leaders he has repeatedly accused of aiding Ukrainian strikes inside Russia as part of Kyiv’s defense against the invasion he started. While US President Donald Trump has stepped back from talks to focus on the war with Iran, Putin still regards Washington as the most important interlocutor to secure a deal that would meet Russia’s demands in Ukraine.

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Still, he kept the door open in comments to reporters in Kazakhstan on Friday. “It is up to us to decide whether to meet with this or another actor in today’s Western European politics,” Putin said. “They have yet to propose their pick, and we will also see whether they will do it or not, whether we need to meet with this or that politician or not, or whether we can trust them in one way or another.”