EU and British leaders are set to gather next week for an emergency summit on the war in Ukraine in response to concerns the US is moving ahead with Russia on peace talks that will lock out the continent.
It comes after President Donald Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine said European leaders would be consulted but not take part in any talks between US and Russia over ending the war.
The meeting will take place on February 17, according to two EU officials.
Senior White House figures are also due to meet Russian and Ukrainian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days, US officials say.
In remarks likely to raise concern in Ukraine and among European allies, special envoy Keith Kellogg said previous negotiations had failed because too many parties had been involved.
“It may be like chalk on the blackboard, it may grate a little bit, but I am telling you something that is really quite honest,” he said on February 15.
UK PM Keir Starmer will discuss the views of European leaders when he visits President Trump at the White House at the end of this month.
A further meeting of European leaders together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected after Keir Starmer returns from Washington.
Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski said France’s President Emmanuel Macron had called the summit of European leaders, which has not yet been announced by the French president.
Radoslaw Sikorski said: “President Trump has a method of operating, which the Russians call reconnaissance through battle. You push and you see what happens, and then you change your position, legitimate tactics. And we need to respond.”
