Kallas warned of the risk of pressure on Ukraine and called for concessions from Russia
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, said that increasing pressure on Ukraine to make territorial or political concessions risks blurring Russia's responsibility for starting the war.
According to her, Ukraine is already under significant international pressure to make difficult compromises in order to end the war, but the main problem remains Russia's unwillingness to make any concessions, reports Censor.NET.
Kallas stressed that peace efforts should focus primarily on the aggressor.
She noted that over the past hundred years, Russia has attacked other states at least 19 times, while none of them have attacked the Russian Federation.
Against this backdrop, according to Kallas, Europe must demand concrete steps from Russia, including limiting its military capabilities, army, and nuclear weapons, as well as bringing it to justice for the crimes it has committed.
The head of European diplomacy also drew attention to Moscow's attempts to focus negotiations exclusively on Washington, avoiding difficult discussions with the European Union. At the same time, she stressed that the EU must play a key role in verifying and implementing any potential peace agreement, as stable peace is impossible without Europe's participation.
Earlier, Western media reported that the issue of security guarantees for Ukraine could be linked to demands for the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from unoccupied territories in Donbas—conditions previously put forward by Russia.
What preceded it?
- Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine, the US, and Russia do not have a common position on Donbas during negotiations on the peace plan.
- According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine has received a proposal from its partners to exchange part of the temporarily occupied Donetsk region and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant for territories that the Russians have not yet captured. Kyiv does not support this idea.
- According to media reports, the latest US proposals for a "peace plan" do not include demands for Russia to withdraw its troops from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which are planned to be included in the demilitarized zone.
- Putin's people say that Russia may withdraw its troops from Donbas, but order will be maintained by the Russian National Guard.
- Axios writes that the US is ready to provide Ukraine with security guarantees based on Article 5 of the NATO Treaty in the event of a withdrawal from Donbas.
