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By:
with the BBC
- February 16, 2025 09:13 AM
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European leaders are expected to meet next week for an emergency meeting on the war in Ukraine. The meeting is in response to concerns that the United States is pressing ahead with peace talks with Russia without including European partners in the negotiations, "BBC" reports.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who is expected to attend the meeting in Paris, said that this is a "once-in-a-generation national security moment" and that it is clear that Europe must take a greater role in NATO.
US President Donald Trump's special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said European leaders will be consulted but will not participate in any talks between the US and Russia on ending the war.
Senior White House figures, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will meet with Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. U.S. officials said Ukraine has also been invited, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that his country had received an invitation.
In comments that have raised concerns in Ukraine and also among European allies, Kellogg said previous negotiations had failed because too many parties were involved.
"I'm telling you something that's really, really honest," Kellogg said Saturday.
Europe remains haunted by the Minsk agreements, a failed ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia reached in 2015. The talks, which were brokered by France and Germany at the time, were aimed at ending the war in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
British Prime Minister Starmer sees his role as one who will hold the US and Europe together to ensure a united approach to peace in Ukraine.
Starmer will discuss the views of European leaders when he visits US President Donald Trump at the White House later this month.
Another meeting between European leaders, also attended by Ukrainian President Zelensky, is expected to take place after the British prime minister returns from Washington.
Starmer said the UK would work to "ensure that the US and Europe are kept together", adding that both sides "cannot allow any division in the alliance" to be caused by "external enemies".
French President Emmanuel Macron has invited European leaders for an urgent meeting, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski announced.
"President Trump has a method of operation, which the Russians call reconnaissance through battle. You push and see what happens, and then you change your stance, legitimate tactics. We have to respond," Sikorski said.
