NATO confirms Brussels talks on security guarantees for Ukraine

NATO has confirmed that its representatives will join officials from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States in Brussels later this week for discussions on security guarantees for Ukraine. The meeting in Belgium will bring together the Alliance and the four countries as they consider further steps towards ending the war.

Alliance spokesperson Allison Hart said the planned gathering would follow discussions in Miami and Oslo. According to Hart, the Brussels talks will address how to move towards a just and lasting end to the war in Ukraine. She confirmed the participation of officials from the four countries.

The confirmation follows an earlier announcement by US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, who said an American team would travel to Brussels this week. His account of the planned meeting included representatives of the European Union as well as NATO, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

Witkoff outlined an agenda covering security guarantees for Ukraine, the shape of Europe's security arrangements after the war and economic opportunities that could support Ukraine's reconstruction. Those subjects were part of the meeting he announced, while Hart described its purpose in terms of further steps towards a lasting end to the conflict.

Separately, Witkoff said trilateral talks aimed at ending the Russia-Ukraine war would take place next week in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. He said those discussions would concentrate on additional steps towards peace, placing another round of talks on the schedule after this week's planned Brussels meeting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously said that a conversation between European leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin had left a sense that Russia was serious about a meeting of negotiating teams in Abu Dhabi. His remarks concerned the prospect of those teams meeting in the Emirati capital.

The telephone conversation with Putin took place on 27 October. Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre initiated the call with the Kremlin leader.

Zelenskyy said Stubb and Støre had used that conversation to press Putin on the need for genuine measures to reduce escalation involving Ukraine's energy sector and infrastructure. According to the Ukrainian president, the two European leaders had "clearly told" Putin that such measures were needed.