US officials insisted Monday that a broader security architecture for Europe must be part of any peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, amid European concerns over talks in Abu Dhabi on ending the war.
European capitals have expressed skepticism over what President Donald Trump has called a “big, beautiful” agreement for all Europe, fearing it could grant Russia its long-held desire to dismantle NATO. With Europe clamoring for a seat at the table over Ukraine, Jared Kushner, a US envoy and Trump’s son-in-law, said that Europe and Russia must have direct talks on “broader security arrangements. “Ultimately, achieving a comprehensive and lasting settlement will also require direct engagement between Russia and our European partners on the broader security arrangements that affect them,” Kushner said on X. US officials said ahead of the Abu Dhabi talks that they were “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects of an eventual deal and that both Moscow and Kyiv were showing “a little bit of flexibility privately. “This is the first time I feel like we see real desire on the Russian side to finish,” one US official said. The United States had also “asked the Russians for us to be able to give” Ukraine NATO-style security guarantees, the official said, but gave no details on what a wider post-war deal for Europe would look like. The United States was having “daily” discussions with Russia and Ukraine since Trump’s administration stepped up its mediation efforts in recent months, following a period when the Iran war was a priority.
