Polish Secretary of State for European Affairs Ignacy Niemczycki is “really hoping” that the US can “convince Russia to be more creative” in trilateral peace talks that will resume in Abu Dhabi this Wednesday – but that whereas “Ukraine made a significant effort to end the war”, Russia is “trying to prolong the discussion”.
This will be the second round of discussions after negotiations last month ended with little success.
During an interview with Euronews’ flagship morning programme Europe Today, Niemczycki said that Russian strikes on civilian energy infrastructure in Kyiv is proof that Moscow wants to continue the war. Ukraine is currently experiencing extremely harsh weather, with temperatures dropping to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
“We’ve seen Russia targeting heat generation, electricity generation. This is very concerning”, said Niemczycki.
But Niemczycki remains hopeful.
“President Trump has announced that the negotiations are promising”, he told Euronews, saying he expects “a kind of an agreement that is beneficial for Europe and that is beneficial for the US” – but also “for world peace, because that’s really what’s at stake here”.
Whether any such deal includes territorial concessions to Russia, he said, should be a matter for the Ukrainian people.
“I don’t think it’s up to us to say that Ukraine should do this or that”, Niemczycki said, further stating that the talks should “put pressure on Russia, not Ukraine”.
Asked about the recently floated 2027 deadline for Ukraine to join the European Union, Niemczycki said “it would be very difficult”, and that while he believes Ukraine could join the 27-member bloc soon, he “wouldn’t really concentrate that much on a date” but on “the fact of Ukraine joining the EU”.
Meanwhile, on recent developments in Iran, Niemczycki said that the Tehran regime’s designation of the armies of European countries as terrorist groups “doesn’t really have any practical implications”.
The move came after the EU last week decided to include the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps on its list of terrorist organisations.
For Niemczycki, the move is “sending a signal to the Iranian regime that (the recent crackdown on protests) is too much, and simply speaking, the government cannot attack its own people”.
