EU prepares for ‘potential’ talks with Vladimir Putin, says official

EU leaders are preparing for potential talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a senior official has said, as European capitals grow frustrated with negotiations to end the war in Ukraine led by US President Donald Trump.

European Council president António Costa said he believed there was “potential” for the EU to negotiate with Putin and that the bloc had the backing of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to do so.

“I’m talking with the [EU’s] 27 national leaders to see the best way to organise ourselves and to identify what we need effectively to discuss with Russia when it comes the right moment to do this,” Costa said.

At a summit of EU leaders in Cyprus last month, Zelenskyy “invited us to be prepared to contribute positively for negotiation”, added Costa.

The EU’s long-held policy is to oppose discussions or decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine’s involvement. But many leaders fear that peace talks between the US, Russia and Ukraine to end the more than four-year-long war have made little progress and left the EU dangerously sidelined and susceptible to being forced to accept a deal it does not agree with.

Costa said Brussels would “avoid to disturb the process led by President Trump”, and admitted there was no signal from the Kremlin that Putin was willing to sit down with any representative from the bloc.

“Yes, it’s a potential [to negotiate with Putin],” Costa told an event at the European University Institute in Florence. “[But] for the time being, nobody has seen any sign from Russia that they want effectively to engage in serious negotiations.”

Zelenskyy’s office confirmed the discussion with Costa but said it should be co-ordinated in a way that shows a united European voice and can apply pressure on Russia.

Some EU leaders, including Belgium’s Prime Minister Bart De Wever, have raised the prospect of attempting to open a channel for talks with the Kremlin, but others say there is no consensus among the 27 leaders as to who should be appointed to speak for the bloc, when such an effort should be made and what the pitch to Putin would be.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that Rustem Umerov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, had arrived in the US to hold meetings with Trump’s special envoys, including Steve Witkoff. The goal, he said, was “the reinvigoration of the diplomatic process”, which has been stalled since Trump launched his war with Iran.

The last trilateral meeting between the US, Ukraine and Russia was on February 18.

Zelenskyy said Kyiv had remained “in constant communication with the American side and know about the relevant contacts of our partners with the Russian side”.

“We are working to ensure that this helps bring a dignified peace closer and guarantee security,” he said.

At the same time, he said, “the Russian side is not taking a constructive approach even with regard to the ceasefire regime”. Kyiv and Moscow traded rival proposals to cease attacks this week. Putin said Russian forces would observe a brief armistice for Moscow to hold its annual Victory Day parade on May 9, during which it expected Ukraine to also halt strikes.

Zelenskyy seized the initiative, however, and announced a unilateral ceasefire on May 6. His office told the FT the president wanted to show that if Russia can secure a truce for Victory Day, it could extend that more broadly across the entire war front, and to expose the contradiction that Putin is asking for security for his parade while continuing offensive operations inside Ukraine.

Russia launched strikes shortly after, killing 27 people in cities across Ukraine and injuring at least 120 others.