The United States special envoy, Jared Kushner, indicated this Saturday that Washington is making efforts so that European countries join directly in the contacts that are currently being carried out in a trilateral format with representatives of Ukraine and Russia, with the aim of moving toward an exit from the armed conflict.
"NATO will continue to be a fundamental pillar of European security, strengthened with stronger mechanisms (...). That is why we are working to bring our European partners to participate directly in these contacts," Kushner said in a message shared through his social media.
From Moscow, it has been repeatedly criticized that the sending of arms to Ukraine and the maintenance of sanctions against Russia are incompatible with the peace discourse of European leaders. These, for their part, have defended their involvement in the talks by considering that they are the ones providing the most military support to Kiev and, therefore, are demanding to be present in the discussions.
Kushner specified that the priority of this phase of the dialogue is "to facilitate a direct relationship between Moscow and the European partners and to prepare the agenda for the next round of trilateral talks".
The envoy added that "several new ideas have emerged" in recent meetings and that they are being "explored." "Some could directly lead to significant progress, while others could result in new proposals to address the differences," he said, before emphasizing that "any final agreement must be reached by the parties involved."
In addition, the U.S. representative recalled that in recent days the press has circulated "some of the maximalist positions proposed by both sides accompanied by strong rhetoric." Nevertheless, he underlined that "in our private contacts both parties understand that it will be necessary to reach practical commitments to end the war."
Along these lines, he stressed that "serious and constructive work continues." "The human cost of this war is devastating and extraordinarily difficult issues lie ahead. However, we are determined to keep working hard, to maintain the necessary confidentiality for these delicate negotiations, and to find a path to end this horrible war and establish lasting peace," he concluded.