Security advisers to the leaders of Germany, Britain, and France have made an unannounced trip to Washington for critical talks amid ongoing Ukraine peace negotiations, WELT reports.
Jens Plötner, security adviser to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, traveled to Washington on 14 March for hastily arranged discussions.
According to diplomatic sources cited by WELT, Plötner will meet with Mike Waltz, National Security Adviser to US President Donald Trump, at the White House alongside British counterpart Jonathan Powell and Emmanuel Bonne, security adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron.
This diplomatic mission follows ongoing negotiations for a 30-days ceasefire in Russia’s war against Ukraine. European partners have not been directly involved in the talks, which have so far been conducted solely between Trump’s team and Ukrainian and Russian representatives separately.
In the ceasefire agreement statement released by President Volodymyr Zelensky and US representatives on 11 March in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, Kyiv specifically insisted that “European partners be included in the peace process.”
Representatives from Ukraine and the United States held negotiations in Saudi Arabia and agreed to a 30-day ceasefire, pending Russian approval. The ceasefire would reportedly halt combat operations along the entire frontline, suspend long-range missile and drone strikes, and end operations in the Black Sea.
On 13 March, Trump’s negotiator Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Trump described these talks on 14 March in a post on his Truth Social platform as “good and productive.” He said there is “a chance to finally end this terrible, bloody war.”
US officials have previously indicated that Europe’s involvement in negotiations to end Russia’s war against Ukraine is connected to sanctions it has imposed on Moscow.
Read also:
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- G7 warns Russia of oil price caps and new sanctions if ceasefire talks fail
- Bloomberg: Turkish troops may join a future Ukraine peacekeeping mission
