EU leaders settle on team for Ukraine peace talks after months of wavering

European Union leaders have agreed on who will represent the continent in talks over ending the war in Ukraine, settling a question that had divided them for months.

The negotiating team will include Britain, which is not an EU member, alongside France, Germany, Italy and Poland, as well as representatives of the bloc's own institutions.

The agreement was reached at a leaders' summit in Dublin, where discussions were dominated by European efforts to avoid being pushed aside in US-led negotiations on the war's end.

Speaking at a press conference after the meeting, European Council President Antonio Costa said: "Europe must speak with one clear voice and united voice in all discussions that shape the future of Ukraine and the security of our continent." He added: "And this is ultimately a team effort."

It remains unclear who will speak for the EU's institutions, though speculation before the summit had centred on Mr Costa, who chairs the bloc's summits, and its top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.

European leaders fear Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, could persuade US President Donald Trump to accept a peace deal that undermines both Kyiv and wider European security. Putin has called for NATO troops to be pulled back from Russia's borders and for no European forces to be stationed in Ukraine.

In a shift on Friday, the Kremlin said Russia would accept European countries joining the talks if it believed they genuinely wanted to contribute to peace. Moscow had long argued that governments on the continent should be shut out because of their support for Ukraine. Russian officials have also demanded a broad agreement on Europe's security architecture before the specifics of the war are settled.

Speaking at a meeting of the European Political Community in Dublin on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron said: "Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine. There is no more US support." He added: "At the end of the day, we will be the ones to define and decide for our future security as Europeans."

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz dismissed the Kremlin's remarks as "the same old game", insisting Europe and the United States had settled on a firm position. "There will be no discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine, and no discussions about Europe without Europe," he said midway through the summit. "Furthermore, there is no need to talk about European security architecture. We have that already."

The announcement follows Russia-Ukraine talks held in Abu Dhabi earlier this week, attended by representatives from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and the EU. Both Moscow and Kyiv pointed to some progress, but there was no sign of a breakthrough on central issues such as territory.