German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe need to be involved in peace talks over Ukraine. (AFP)
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Updated 13 February 2025
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German foreign minister: Europe needs to be involved in talks over Ukraine

  • ‘We can’t have talks without involving Ukraine. Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in’

FRANKFURT: German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Thursday that Ukraine and Europe need to be involved in peace talks over Ukraine, after the US president and the Russian president discussed the conflict.

“We can’t have talks without involving Ukraine. Peace in Europe is at stake, that’s why we Europeans need to be brought in,” Baerbock said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio.

President Donald Trump discussed the war in Ukraine on Wednesday in phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.


Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin

Updated 58 min 7 sec ago
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Changes to US security strategy ‘largely consistent’ with Russia’s vision: Kremlin

  • Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones”

MOSCOW: Russia has welcomed changes in the US National Security Strategy, saying the adjustments that marked a radical departure from Washington’s previous policy were “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
Washington’s new National Security Strategy, published early Friday, took aim at allies in Europe, calling it over-regulated, lacking in “self-confidence” and facing “civilizational erasure” due to immigration.
The document stated that the United States would also prevent other powers from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
Commenting on the new US strategy, the Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the current US administration was “fundamentally different from the previous ones.”
“The adjustments we’re seeing, I would say, are largely consistent with our vision,” Peskov said in an interview with state TV station Rossiya aired Sunday.
“President Trump is currently strong in terms of domestic political positions. And this gives him the opportunity to adjust the concept to suit his vision,” Peskov added.
The publication of the updated security strategy came as officials from Kyiv held talks in Florida with Trump’s envoys on the US-drafted plan to end the near four-year war in Ukraine.
Three days of talks produced no apparent breakthrough.
President Volodymyr Zelensky committed to further negotiations toward “real peace,” as Russia in the early hours of Saturday launched another series of drone and missile strikes at Ukraine.
Zelensky is due to meet with European leaders — French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — in London on Monday to take stock of the negotiations.