Russian Foreign Ministry rejects European involvement in Ukraine talks

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Europeans had no place at the negotiating table on Ukraine. In a statement carried by Russia’s state news agency TASS on 7 November 2026, she cited the planned Coalition of the Willing exercise, which she said would begin immediately before Russia–US–Ukraine consultations resumed in Abu Dhabi.

Exercise in Poland scheduled for 9–22 November

The UK Ministry of Defence had already announced the exercise in an official statement on 3 November. Exercise Koalicja will take place in Poland from 9 to 22 November 2026. It will involve 2,800 military personnel from 11 countries, under joint UK and French leadership.

This is the first major exercise for Multinational Force Ukraine, the military formation of the Coalition of the Willing. The coalition is a group of countries led by London and Paris preparing security guarantees for Ukraine and a multinational force for the period following a possible ceasefire.

The UK Ministry of Defence lists several objectives for the exercise: testing command and control, checking the movement of personnel, equipment and supplies, and testing how multinational components operate together. The UK will contribute 300 military personnel and Typhoon and Voyager aircraft. The statement sets two explicit conditions for any deployment of the formation into Ukraine: hostilities must have ceased and the Ukrainian government must have requested it.

London does not link the exercise to the Abu Dhabi talks

Zakharova links the start of the exercise to the forthcoming resumption of talks in Abu Dhabi and presents this sequence as grounds for excluding Europeans. The British statement, however, does not link the exercise timetable to the diplomatic consultations.

The statement sets out Moscow’s position on European involvement but does not indicate agreement from Washington or Kyiv. The coalition’s preparations for a possible mission after the end of hostilities and the composition of the negotiating table are separate issues that the Russian Foreign Ministry links in its political argument.

Flank has found no official confirmation from the other named participants of the date or resumption of consultations in Abu Dhabi. Nor has an agreed list of participants in the talks been announced that would confirm the exclusion of European states.