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EU's Kallas: Russia 'pretending' to negotiate on Ukraine while 'bombing civilians'
Reuters • • world
Key Points:
- The EU's foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, expressed skepticism about Russia's willingness to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, citing ongoing Russian attacks on civilians and failure to respect existing European security agreements.
- Kallas emphasized that Russia has already committed to agreements like the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which it has violated by attacking Ukraine's sovereignty and infrastructure.
- Discussions on European security should be led by the European Union according to its treaties, with Kallas warning against fragmented diplomatic efforts by individual European countries.
- Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni highlighted risks of European irrelevance if member states continue pursuing separate diplomatic tracks instead of a unified strategy on Ukraine.
- The EU is negotiating a 22nd sanctions package on Russia and hopes that recent US political changes will strengthen transatlantic cooperation to pressure Russia to end the conflict.
