Key facts
- Zelenskyy said Europe should settle on a single negotiator with a mandate from the EU and non-EU backers such as the U.K. and Norway.
- He said the decision should come in November, preferably at a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Germany on November 19.
- Zelenskyy said he wants a dialogue with European powers on the choice rather than being handed their answer.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last week the EU's engagement with the peace talks was "all over the place."
- US officials said they wanted Europe fully at the table when Ukraine, Russia and the US resume negotiations.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on November 10 that European countries backing Ukraine must decide quickly who will represent them in peace talks, speaking to reporters during a trip to Denmark.
Zelenskyy said he wanted one person with a mandate from the EU and from non-EU backers such as the U.K. and Norway, arguing that unity matters. "I think that in November, not later, we need to accept who will represent Europe in negotiations," he said, adding that a single mandate from "all this coalition" would be better.
He said he wanted a dialogue with the EU and other European powers over the choice, rather than being presented with their answer, which he called "not good, really." He said he hoped the question would be settled no later than the end of November, preferably at a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Germany on November 19.
Europe has been split over who should speak for it in talks with Moscow and Washington, and over whether to engage Russian leader Vladimir Putin at all, despite providing most of the foreign financing for Ukraine's war effort. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said last week that the EU's engagement with the peace talks was "all over the place." Leaders are due to take up the question at a summit in Dublin later this week.
Talks involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States resumed in Abu Dhabi on November 10. US officials said they wanted Europe fully at the table next time, partly because Washington wants a review of wider European security arrangements folded into the negotiations, a longstanding Russian demand.