Europe to be represented at US-mediated Ukraine talks

PARIS: Europe will be represented at upcoming US-mediated talks with Moscow and Kyiv in Abu Dhabi aimed at ending the Ukraine war, France said on Sunday. 'The Europeans will be represented and France will be in Abu Dhabi to participate in these talks,' French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told RTL radio. His comment came after President Donald Trump stoked fears of a US pivot toward the Kremlin by predicting a 'very big' deal with Russia involving not only the Ukraine war but 'all of Europe'.
Up to now, the talks scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday had been framed as a trilateral format at the level of officials, not leaders, from Ukraine, Russia and the United States. The identities of who would take part have not been made public. Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has made it clear that he wants involvement from European allies in the process, Russia has suggested there would be no place for European representatives at the table.
Barrot said that, in the past, 'there have been discussions, sometimes without the Europeans and sometimes with' but 'this time they will participate'. He said: 'France will be there and will ensure that Europe's voice is heard.'
On Thursday, US, European, Ukrainian and Nato officials met in Brussels ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks. A Nato spokeswoman said they 'sought to advance a just and sustainable end to the war in Ukraine'. Jared Kushner, the US president's envoy and son-in-law, participated in the Brussels meeting by video link. He said the United States was working on 'a broader European security architecture that can help establish the conditions for lasting peace'. The American approach is being treated warily by European allies, which have long rejected Moscow's desire to rewrite the European security architecture.
Before launching the war in Ukraine in 2022, the Kremlin delivered an ultimatum to NATO which included a demand that the alliance's troops be withdrawn from eastern Europe. That was rejected by the Western military alliance. Kushner on Thursday said that Washington will 'consult closely with our European partners on the sidelines' of the Abu Dhabi talks and 'if progress is made, aim to move toward a broader multilateral format with their direct participation'.
Meanwhile, Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes, authorities said, while a new drone hit a village humanitarian aid centre attacked this week where rescuers are still digging out bodies. Ukraine is bracing for a harsh new winter of war as Russia ramps up daily aerial barrages, raining down drones and missiles on the power network.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, 'more than 600,000 residents of the region have been left without power,' power company DTEK said on Telegram after a 'night attack has damaged important energy facilities'. It said the company was working to restore electricity but the task was 'complicated by repeated attacks'.
In another strike, a Russian drone hit 'a critical infrastructure facility' in the northeastern Kharkiv region, the mayor of Zlatopil city, Mykola Baksheyev, said on social media. 'Nearly 250,000 customers in the Kharkiv region were left without power,' Baksheyev said. Repair works were underway but 'the exact time for restoring power supply is still unknown,' he added.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said the night-time strikes had triggered 'widespread power outages across the country'. 'In the Zhytomyr region alone, 140 apartment buildings were left without heating following a Russian strike,' he said, as temperatures in Ukraine already hovered around freezing. He also said Russia had launched a drone at Komyshuvakha — a village in the Zaporizhzhia region where Moscow had hit an aid distribution centre on Monday in one of the deadliest attacks of the war.
The death toll has risen to 55 people, Zelensky said. Emergency services previously put it at 50 killed. 'This morning, the Russians attacked Komyshuvakha with an FPV drone, where emergency rescue operations have been underway for seven days ... Unfortunately, more people may still be under the rubble,' Zelensky said. Russia has battered Ukraine's energy grid and infrastructure throughout its four-and-a-half-year attack and Kyiv was now entering another war-time winter. — AFP