Europe ready to take over negotiations with Putin

European leaders are ready to take the lead in negotiations to end Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine, a spokesman for German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said yesterday.

"What is new, I believe, is that this process is now gaining new momentum in Europe," said Stefan Kornelius after a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany and Great Britain, held late Sunday in London.

The leaders of Germany, France and Britain have backed a proposal for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold talks to try to secure a ceasefire, with the message that Europe will also play a role in the process. The Kremlin, however, yesterday assessed that the position of European leaders was inconsistent, stating that they were talking about peace in Ukraine while at the same time helping Kiev continue the war with new weapons, Reuters reported.

"Another new development is that we are taking over and continuing the negotiation process that was largely led by the US. We are doing this in close coordination with the US," Politiko quoted Cornelius as saying.

US President Donald Trump's envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have been leading efforts to mediate negotiations between Russia and Ukraine since early 2025, with few tangible results. Politico reports that the European initiative to take the lead in peace talks comes at a time when the US is increasingly focused on ending the US-Israeli war with Iran.

In a joint statement on Sunday, Merz and his counterparts from France and Britain - along with Zelensky - called for "direct dialogue between Ukraine and Russia with the active participation of the US and Europe" and outlined five conditions for achieving peace, including an immediate and complete ceasefire.

The statement said the current line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces must be the starting point for negotiations, and that Ukraine must have “strong and legally binding” security guarantees. Russian assets must remain frozen until the Kremlin “ends the war of aggression and compensates Ukraine for the damage caused by the war.”

European leaders will further discuss their approach to possible peace talks at the G7 meeting in Evian and during the European Council summit in Brussels next week, Cornelius said.

"We need the broadest possible support from all European partners to really push the process towards peace," he said.

However, as the Brussels portal states, it remains unclear whether Putin is ready to sit down at the table with European leaders, who have been excluded from direct negotiations despite long seeking to play a greater role in shaping a possible solution to the conflict.

European countries, especially Germany, have become Kiev's biggest military backers and are likely to take a tougher stance than their American counterparts in negotiations with Moscow, Politiko reports. Zelensky sent an open letter to Putin last Thursday, inviting him to meet to end the fighting, but Putin rejected the invitation the very next day.

Putin had previously suggested former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a Kremlin-friendly figure, as a possible negotiator in peace talks on Ukraine. The proposal was quickly dismissed in European capitals, where it was interpreted as Putin's calculated attempt to divide the continent and portray himself as a constructive negotiator, knowing that the initiative would almost certainly not be accepted.

Cornelius said that “it could be weeks, even months” before Putin is brought to the negotiating table, and that “only a strong Ukraine and pressure on Russia will convince Putin to give in.” He stressed that Europe must be ready when that moment comes.

“We also need to establish a readiness for dialogue and agree on the conditions under which such talks can even take place,” he said. “It’s all part of the preparations. We are in the process of redefining the approach.”