• US president says he agreed to start ‘peace talks’ with Putin
• Kremlin impressed by Trump position on ending war
• Zelensky rejects any truce without Ukraine’s involvement

BRUSSELS: Blindsided Europeans warned on Thursday that a “dirty deal” between US President Donald Trump and Moscow on ending the Ukraine war was doomed to fail — insisting they and Kyiv must have a seat at the negotiating table.

Meeting Nato partners the day after Trump revealed he had agreed to start peace talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth denied it meant a betrayal of Kyiv’s three-year war effort.

But Trump’s move stunned European allies — several of whom openly called his strategy into question.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any “dictated peace” and his defence minister called it “regrettable” that Washington was already making “concessions” to the Kremlin.

In a blunt address to reporters at Nato talks in Brussels, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas insisted that no deal “behind our backs” could work, as she accused Washington of “appeasement” towards Russia.

“We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” she said.

“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” she said. “It will just simply not work.”

‘Not acceptable’

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate without Kyiv’s involvement, and called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war.

On his part, President Trump tried to ease Kyiv’s fears, saying that Ukraine would have a seat at the table during any peace negotiations with Russia over ending the war. Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump said the war in Ukraine has to end.

The Ukrainian leader made the comments at a nuclear plant on his way to the Munich Security Conference. “We, as an independent country, simply will not be able to accept any agreements without us,” Zelensky told reporters.

“Today it’s important that everything does not go according to Putin’s plan, in which he wants to do everything to make his negotiations bilateral (with the US),” Zelensky said, adding that it was important for the US and Ukraine to draw up a plan to end the war before talking to the Russian side.

‘No betrayal’

After a 90-minute phone call with Putin, his first since returning to power, Trump said he expected to meet the

Russian leader in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine peace talks — sparking fears Kyiv would be frozen out.

That came after his administration poured cold water on Ukraine’s goals of reclaiming all its territory and pushing to join Nato’s protective umbrella.

“There is no betrayal there. There is a recognition that the whole world and the United States is invested and interested in peace,” Hegseth said at Nato.

“That will require both sides recognising things they don’t want to,” added the US defence secretary.

Trump, who has been pushing for a quick end to the war, denied that Ukraine was being excluded from direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.

The Kremlin said both leaders had agreed the “time has come to work together,” insisting it wanted to organise a face-to-face meeting promptly and that broader European security should be on the agenda.

The Kremlin said it was impressed by Trump’s position on ending the war in Ukraine, and that preparations were under way for a meeting between Trump and Putin. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the call was very important and that there was political will on both the Russian and US sides to find a settlement and end the war.

After speaking to Putin, the US president called Zelensky and shared details of his talks with the Kremlin leader.

Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov told Kyiv’s Nato backers “we’re continuing, we’re strong, we’re capable, we’re able, we will deliver”.

Kyiv’s European backers are terrified that Trump could force Ukraine into a bad peace deal that will leave them facing an emboldened Putin — while fronting the lion’s share of costs for post-war security.

Nato chief Mark Rutte on Thursday said it was crucial that Kyiv was “closely involved” in any talks about what happens in Ukraine.

Published in Dawn, February 14th, 2025