France among five major powers to represent EU in Ukraine talks

European Council President Antonio Costa on Friday said that Brussels will send diplomats from the bloc and five countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Poland, to upcoming Ukraine talks.

A file image of Antonio Costa, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ursula von der Leyen at a European Union leaders' summit in Brussels on October 16, 2026. © Yves Herman, Reuters

Europe will send a team of diplomats from the European Union and five individual countries to the next round of Ukraine talks, a top EU official said Friday, following a summit focused on how to avoid being shut out of US-led negotiations on ending the nearly five-year war.

European Council President Antonio Costa said the continent will be represented by officials from the 27-nation EU bloc and five members of the “Coalition of the Willing” that backs Ukraine: the UK , France , Germany , Italy and Poland .

“We need to integrate all of us. And for this it's essential to have a team and to speak with only one voice,” Costa said.

European leaders have been concerned that a US-backed process will leave them sidelined and Kyiv vulnerable as Moscow and Washington decide the fate of a conflict that has roiled the continent.

Ukraine is eager for support from its European allies. It's reluctant to leave the talks solely in the hands of a US administration that has often seemed to lean toward Moscow’s views. Russia , for its part, does not want European countries involved in direct negotiations, complaining they are financing and supplying Ukraine’s military effort.

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