PARIS, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Europeans will participate in talks on Ukraine in Abu Dhabi this week, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Sunday, as US President Donald Trump said he believed the war would end soon.
US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday Washington would bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia on November 10-11 to discuss ending Moscow's war against Ukraine, post-war security pacts and de-escalation.
"The Europeans will be well represented. France will be in Abu Dhabi
to take part," Barrot told French radio station RTL in an interview.
"I can’t tell you yet who will be representing France on this occasion, but France will certainly be there."
In an interview with CBS's "60 Minutes" broadcast on Sunday, Trump said he believed the war would end soon and suggested Ukraine could emerge from a settlement with altered borders.
"I think we're gonna have it done, and I think it's gonna happen and they're gonna end up with a little bit different shape Ukraine," Trump said.
Asked whether Russian President Vladimir Putin was stringing him along, Trump replied: "Oh, I don't think so."
On Thursday, Trump told reporters the war was close to being settled and ending it might involve all of Europe.
On Sunday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump was probably alluding to progress on security guarantees for Ukraine and Europe, which had repeatedly figured in the Russia-Ukraine talks.
"What is the post-war security infrastructure of Ukraine and more broadly of the European continent going to look like?" Rubio told reporters.
"So I think that's what the president's alluding to, is that there's been some advances made in what that architecture could look like post-conflict," he added.
"Nothing's been finalized yet, and maybe some progress can be made in Abu Dhabi tomorrow when Jared (Kushner) and Steve (Witkoff) will be there."
Trump envoy Jared Kushner said US officials held "productive and substantive discussions" with Ukraine, NATO and European partners in Brussels on Thursday regarding security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader European security architecture.
(Reporting by Mathieu Rosemain and Simon Lewis; Editing by David Goodman, Andrew Heavens and Bill Berkrot)
