Tusk: Poland to Join Europe's E5 Group for Talks With Russia on Ukraine War

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has announced that Poland will join the E5 group, which, together with European Union institutions, is to represent Europe in negotiations on ending Russia's war against Ukraine. Tusk also stressed that no concessions should be made to the Kremlin during the talks, according to the outlets Natemat and Unian.

What the E5 is

Tusk said participants of the Dublin summit backed the idea of creating an E5 format. It will include Poland, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy. The group will coordinate further steps in the negotiation process.

"Poland will have a key role," Tusk said. In his words, European and Ukrainian security issues cannot be discussed without Warsaw's participation. He noted that this position is supported by the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, the Baltic states, Scandinavia and Greece.

Stance toward Russia

Tusk stressed that Europe should not agree to a revision of the security architecture on terms set by Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Revising the security architecture in Europe is not possible. We must talk about a just peace for Ukraine, but we will certainly not agree to changes that favour Russia," he said.

Earlier talks

The question of European leaders' involvement became more pressing after trilateral talks between Ukraine, the United States and Russia in Abu Dhabi. At that time, US special envoy Jared Kushner said EU representatives could join the next round of meetings, and that Ukraine and Russia also support widening the format.

Moscow, however, indicated it is not ready to accept European participation unconditionally. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin first needs to understand the "true intentions" of European countries and their willingness to promote the peace process.