G7 Paris Focus Shifts to Ukraine as US-Brokered Abu Dhabi Talks Begin
PARIS – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and fellow foreign ministers from the Group of Seven leading democracies are focusing on Ukraine and ways to support its defense against Russia. As trilateral discussions involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States begin in the United Arab Emirates, G7 foreign ministers are meeting Tuesday with Ukraine’s top diplomat in France.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha is beginning his day in Paris with talks with Rubio before joining the broader G7 meeting at the French Foreign Ministry. The discussions will center on defense and security assistance for Ukraine, aid that President Donald Trump’s administration has scaled back. The reduction has alarmed officials in Kyiv and across Europe, including in France, Germany, Italy and Britain, all G7 members.
It was not immediately known whether the United States or any of its G7 partners would announce additional assistance for Ukraine.
At the same time in Abu Dhabi, Trump’s representatives Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are meeting Russian and Ukrainian officials. Their efforts include trying to persuade Moscow to support broader negotiations on ending nearly five years of war, with key European officials potentially taking part.
European governments have pressed for a direct role in the Abu Dhabi discussions. However, two U.S. officials said Monday that representatives from Britain, Germany, France, NATO and the European Union would not participate in the main talks. Instead, they would discuss possible security guarantees and the long-term security framework between Russia and Europe ahead of the negotiations.
Russia has opposed European involvement and maintained that the negotiations should remain strictly trilateral, involving only Russia, Ukraine and the United States. The three countries last held talks in February.
But German Foreign Minister Johan Wadephul, who met separately with Rubio on the sidelines of the G7 gathering in Paris on Monday, insisted that Europe must have a place in the negotiations.
“I am still very grateful to the United States of America for making every effort to get the parties to the conflict to the table,” he said. “But I made clear again here that Europe belongs at this table. There can be no solution without Europe, only with Europe.”
Rubio said the United States did not oppose eventual European participation in the direct negotiations, but believed the timing was not yet right.
“Ultimately, it would be a positive, but we’ve got a ways to go,” he told reporters after a full day of group and bilateral meetings with G7 counterparts. “But, no, it’s good that they’re talking, it’s good that the trilateral talks are on again. It’s better than not having talks.”
On the eve of the negotiations, Russia again attacked Ukraine’s power grid on Monday, while Ukrainian forces struck another of Russia’s largest oil refineries.
The two sides remain locked in combat, with neither showing signs of retreating from its demands. Analysts and humanitarian organizations say the war has already killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians.
