TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN said a European representative who would take part in peace talks between Russia and Ukraine should be decided within a week or two.

Arriving at the Convention Centre in Dublin this morning, where EU leaders are to take part in an informal meeting, the Taoiseach welcomed Thursday night’s meeting between Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and two US envoys.

“There was quite substantive engagement yesterday on Ukraine,” he said, adding that talks are ongoing and there will be a further round of talks.

 Zelenskyy met envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff at Baldonnel in west Dublin to receive an update on their talks with Russia during a visit to Moscow on Thursday.

Both sides said Russia had accepted plans to exchange prisoners of war.

The Taoiseach said it is hoped that there will be a “strong transfer or swap” of prisoners between the two warring countries.

“I think it is now clear that Europe will be at the talks, and the discussions today will focus perhaps both on the content and the type of peace that Europe wants to secure a sustainable peace, and there will be discussion, obviously, in terms of who represents Europe.”

Martin dismissed a suggestion that he may be that person. He said that he hopes discussions today will bring clarity around this, and it is his view that the matter needs to be “finally decided upon” within the next week or two.

On Thursday, Foreign Affairs Minister Helen McEntee said “it’s very clear that Russia doesn’t want Europe around the table” but she added that European leaders should also not get bogged down on who might be the European representatives in those talks.

Kushner, a son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, told the gathered media at Baldonnel that the US has been working very closely with Europe over recent months.

He said, “We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table”, and that Russia is “willing to give it a try”.

But today, Russia said it had not yet agreed to let Europeans join the US-mediated talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

“Once we understand their real intentions and their willingness to contribute to the peace process, then we can make a decision on holding talks in an expanded format,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

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Questioned on the future funding of Ukraine, and how Europe plans to continue with this, Martin said that discussions on this should be “more pragmatic” and “we can’t waste as much time on it”.

“What is clear is Ukraine will need clarity for 2027. Our partners will need clarity for 2027.

“The sooner that happens, the better, because it sends a very strong signal that Europe is there for the long haul, for Ukraine, which then has a consequential impact on talks and on perhaps concentrating minds everywhere in terms of bringing this war.”

The central theme of today’s meeting of EU leaders – with yesterday’s additional world leaders having headed off – is artificial intelligence. Ukraine will likely be discussed over lunch, Martin said.

“We’ll explore both the implications of AI positives, plus the potential negatives, and the balance, of course, between regulation and innovation, tech sovereignty, and how Europe can interact with developments in AI across the world and the impacts for employment and the risks that are attached to AI as well,” the Taoiseach told media.

Additional reporting by AFP