European leaders intend to hold their own talks with the Kremlin to end the war in Ukraine, amid a worsening relationship between US and Ukrainian Presidents Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a reduction of American support for Kyiv, the Financial Times (FT) international commentator Gideon Rachman claims in a column.
A phone conversation between European leaders and US President Vladimir Putin could take place in the near future, Rachman adds.
During possible Russian-European talks, Putin could be offered two options for ending the war.
“The first is to freeze the conflict on the current line of control — and in return get a guarantee that Ukraine will never join NATO. The second option would be for Ukraine to cede the rest of the Donbas to Russia — but then to join NATO,” Rachman claims, without citing sources.
According to Rachman, Europe considers sanctions against Russia and support for Ukraine to be vital, especially in the context of the reduction of US aid to Kyiv. For this reason, Europeans increasingly see their direct participation in peacekeeping efforts as a necessity, also because it is European resources that keep Ukraine afloat after the US stopped providing financial assistance.
There is a growing consensus in European capitals that the continent’s leaders can no longer tolerate a situation where only the Americans are talking to Putin, and channels with the Russians are “already open,” Gideon Rachman writes.