Merz: Germany will definitely be part of Ukraine talks

Germany will take part in the upcoming talks on ending Russia's war against Ukraine, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday at an informal European Union summit in Dublin.

"Germany is a guaranteed participant; that is absolutely clear," he said. According to Merz, the likely participants include the European countries represented at the trilateral talks between the United States, Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi. He expects substantive peace talks involving Europe in the coming weeks.

Merz also urged US President Donald Trump to avoid surprises in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the APEC summit in China next week. According to him, some of the leaders in Dublin fear a "second Anchorage" — a reference to the Trump-Putin meeting in Alaska, where Trump was reported to have proposed a territorial exchange to Moscow contrary to Kyiv's position.

According to Merz, he wants to "convey our message to the United States with the utmost clarity" and urged avoiding surprises and continuing to play as part of "Team Europe" and "Team Ukraine."

His words came after US presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff announced that another meeting of the negotiating teams is already scheduled. Speaking in Dublin alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, Witkoff called the talks in Abu Dhabi positive and said they had produced some progress.

"We have another meeting scheduled, and we will do everything possible to achieve the goal," Witkoff said.

Kushner, for his part, noted that Washington had worked with European partners for months, and stressed that their participation is necessary to reach a durable peace agreement.

"We cannot close this deal without the Europeans at the table," Kushner said.

According to him, the American delegation raised this issue directly with Putin, who indicated that he was ready to accept Europe's participation.

"He will try," Kushner said.

Speaking alongside the American envoys at a military airbase near Dublin, Zelensky welcomed both developments as concrete progress after two days of talks in Abu Dhabi and the US talks with Putin that followed.

"Every meeting must produce a result and bring us closer to peace," Zelensky said.

According to the Ukrainian leader, the prisoner exchange agreed in Abu Dhabi could bring home more than a thousand Ukrainians; he called it a significant humanitarian achievement.

"Our soldiers will come home," Zelensky said. "This is a real result."

The agreements were the result of renewed US mediation efforts: Kushner and Witkoff traveled from Abu Dhabi to Moscow and then briefed Zelensky in Ireland, where he was attending a summit of European leaders.