European Council President António Costa stated that he is discussing the details of possible negotiations with Russia with the leaders of all EU countries. According to him, there is potential for discussions, but so far "no one has seen" Moscow's readiness.
Leaders of the European Union (EU) countries are preparing for potential negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, said European Council President António Costa while speaking at the European University Institute in Florence. His words were reported by the British newspaper The Financial Times (FT) in an article published on Thursday, May 7.
"I am negotiating with the leaders of 27 member states to determine how best to organize ourselves and what exactly we need to discuss with Russia when the right moment comes for that," Costa said. According to him, "there is potential" for talks with Putin, but so far "no one has seen" signs of Russia's readiness for "effective" participation in "serious" discussions. Costa also noted that the EU does not intend to interfere with the negotiations being conducted by the United States.
Speaking about preparations for a potential dialogue with Russia, Costa mentioned that at the Union summit in Cyprus at the end of April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged EU representatives to "be ready to make a positive contribution to the negotiations." A senior Ukrainian official confirmed this: "We need closer coordination at the European level." According to him, the EU could participate in the negotiations as a "leader" representing "all Europeans."
The Last Contact Between Russia and the EU Was in February 2026
The last serious dialogue between Europe and Russia took place in early February 2026, when advisors to French President Emmanuel Macron, Emmanuel Bonn and Bertrand Bukhvalter, visited Moscow to discuss the possible involvement of the EU in peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
At that time, it was reported that the French proposals were rejected by the Kremlin. "The overall message from Putin to everyone is this: we are ready for constructive dialogue if you are too. But if not, then we are not interested," FT quoted a source who spoke with the Russian president.
Additionally, in mid-March, FT reported, citing sources, that Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov used profanity in a conversation with French representatives when rejecting their proposal for negotiations. In a comment for the same article, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that the French "did not bring any positive signals," and therefore they "really had nothing positive to hear in response."
US and Ukraine Talks to Resume After a Pause
In the coming days, US Special Envoy Stephen Witkoff will meet with the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, in Miami. These negotiations will be the first between representatives of the two countries since February 28, when the US and Israel began a war against Iran.
Due to the new military conflict, Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, who had previously been involved in peace negotiations regarding Ukraine, shifted their focus to talks with Tehran. Furthermore, the overall escalation of the situation in the Middle East, where a trilateral meeting of representatives from Russia, the US, and Ukraine was initially planned, also led to the suspension of negotiations.
At the same time, according to Kirill Budanov, head of the Ukrainian presidential office and a member of the Ukrainian negotiation delegation, Moscow and Kyiv are moving closer to a peace agreement, and the resolution of the war may not take much time. In early April, he pointed out that although both Ukraine and Russia had maintained "maximalist" positions in the negotiations so far, the parties would converge in search of a compromise.
