• US president says he agreed to start ‘peace talks’ with Putin
• Kremlin impressed by Trump position on ending war
• Zelensky rejects any truce without Ukraine’s involvement
BRUSSELS: Blindsided Europeans warned on Thursday that a “dirty deal” between US President Donald Trump and Moscow on ending the Ukraine war was doomed to fail — insisting they and Kyiv must have a seat at the negotiating table.
Meeting Nato partners the day after Trump revealed he had agreed to start peace talks with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth denied it meant a betrayal of Kyiv’s three-year war effort.
But Trump’s move stunned European allies — several of whom openly called his strategy into question.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz rejected any “dictated peace” and his defence minister called it “regrettable” that Washington was already making “concessions” to the Kremlin.
In a blunt address to reporters at Nato talks in Brussels, EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas insisted that no deal “behind our backs” could work, as she accused Washington of “appeasement” towards Russia.
“We shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” she said.
“Any quick fix is a dirty deal,” she said. “It will just simply not work.”
‘Not acceptable’
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday Ukraine would not accept any bilateral agreement on its fate without Kyiv’s involvement, and called for Europe to have a seat at the table in negotiations to end the war.
