Senior US peace negotiators met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Dublin as discussions with Russia intensify, but EU heads insisted that Europe must be at the table when discussing Ukraine’s destiny.
As 50 world leaders gathered in Dublin’s Convention Centre for the European Political Community (EPC) summit, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said leaders reaffirmed their “unwavering support” for the people of Ukraine; however, the message from the meeting was clear: any future talks must include European voices.
“The US and Russia know that there can be no progress in terms of the European situation, or European security, or long-term resolution of this issue without European input,” Mr Martin said.
It is expected that the 27 EU leaders will discuss who might represent the bloc in such talks when they gather in the Convention Centre for a second day on Friday.
Mr Martin paid tribute to the Ukrainian people and said that “we salute the bravery of the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s intensifying attacks on civilians and critical infrastructure”.
Arriving at the meeting, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pledged to support “Ukraine, be it in wartime or in peacetime.”
She said that the Commission is preparing what will be the 22nd package of sanctions against Russia as well as a proposal to “cover the financial needs of Ukraine in 2027”. Both, she said, will be ready before the next European Council meeting.
The Dublin summit came after trilateral talks held in Abu Dhabi between Russia, Ukraine and the US concluded after a second day with some progress but no breakthrough.
Donald Trump’s team, which includes the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, travelled to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin on Thursday before flying to Dublin to sit down with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy late last night.
The plane carrying the US envoys arrived at Baldonnel Aerodrome shortly before 9pm, where they met the Ukrainian president.
Earlier, Mr Zelenskyy said his country would never cede to Russia and that negotiators would have to understand that.
“If someone in America is making decisions that basically treat Ukrainian territory as if it is not Ukrainian, then this tells us where things are going.
“We need to be clear and never recognise Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory in any way,” he said.
Leaders attending the EPC summit also discussed rising energy prices, with Mr Martin stating that the “common denominator from all member states” was the impact this is having on families and business and the need to bring down these costs.
“Moving away from fossil fuels, increasing our capacity to generate and to share renewable energy, developing our grids and interconnectors, and improving our energy efficiency is the route to a more secure and affordable future for all Europeans,” the Taoiseach said.
“We have to consistently seek a way to try and reduce prices across Europe with grid connections and interconnectors,” he said, hinting at the roll-out of more interconnectors such as the one between Ireland and France.
Mr Martin added that the EPC is a forum where “discussions happen”, but out of that comes “ideas in terms of future energy security, but also in the area of energy pricing”.
Separately, leaders agreed that they need to work more closely on hybrid attacks after Ireland and other EU countries received several threats across schools, the media and aviation in recent days.
“Secondly, we heard strong calls for closer cooperation in preventing and responding to hybrid activity, including in relation to our democratic processes. We know that there are those who would use such attacks to create confusion, sow division, and weaken public confidence in our democratic systems,” Mr Martin said.
Speaking after the meeting, the Ukranian leader said it is “Very important” to have Europe involved in the negotiations because Ukraine will eventually join the EU.
Mr Kusher said the meeting had been a “good recap of what has happened over the past three days” referring to talks Abu Dhabi and Moscow this week.
“We cannot conclude this deal without Europe being at the table,” he said adding that the US side has stressed the importance of a EU involvement with Russia.
Russia has “accepted” a prisoner exchange, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, in what he described as a “real result”.
Mr Zelensky was speaking following talks with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner at Baldonnel Aerodrome on the outskirts of Dublin which lasted just under an hour.
“It will be the biggest, as Steve and Jared told me, the biggest exchange of war prisoners and our soldiers will come home,” he said.
“I’m very thankful to all our negotiators. This is a real result, this is very important and successful for the families and to all of us that people will come home to their families.” Mr Zelensky said the Americans also made progress to ensure European representatives will be at negotiations next week.
“They will have a voice. This is important for us because the war is in Europe,” he added.
