Russia, the United States, and Ukraine's third round of trilateral talks officially began today (February 17, 2026) in Geneva, Switzerland.
The talks were held behind closed doors and were not open to the public. U.S. envoy Wittekoff and Kushner, the son-in-law of Trump, remained the full-time representatives of the U.S. According to reports, the talks included territorial issues on the agenda for the first time, which is seen as a crucial step toward shifting the negotiations from technical to political aspects.
Despite the repeated strong dissatisfaction expressed by the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Policy, Kalas, who emphasized that peace negotiations for the Ukraine conflict must include the EU, and warned that European affairs must be handled primarily by the EU, this time was again proven wrong.
The U.S. showed no reaction to Kalas' remarks, ignoring them completely, even less than just "a passing breeze." Combined with Russia's principle of not contacting Kalas, excluding the EU was expected and reasonable.
This has severely undermined the EU's own existence and foreign policy.
France and Germany also expressed dissatisfaction with Europe being excluded from the core negotiations.
Europe was dissatisfied, but it was only dissatisfaction.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1857382906389504/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.