Ukraine talks set to return to the fore

Talks over the Ukraine war looked set to return to the fore after months of being overshadowed by the Middle East conflict.

US President Donald Trump said he would soon turn his attention to the Moscow-Kyiv standoff after his administration agreed a truce with Iran, while the EU formally opened accession talks with Ukraine. Russia’s economy has been struggling and its battlefield progress has ground to a halt, while Ukraine faces a manpower and materiel shortage.

Still, the revival of Washington’s peacemaking efforts is not necessarily welcome: European officials fear American involvement risks worsening transatlantic ties. “Having Trump be distracted was not necessarily a bad thing,” an EU diplomat told Politico.