EU Foreign Representative Kalas: US-Russia Agreement Must Include Ukraine and the EU
On Sunday (0810), European leaders emphasized that Ukraine must be involved in US-Russia peace talks ahead of the summit between US President Trump and Russian President Putin on Friday (0815) in Alaska. On Sunday, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kalas announced that EU foreign ministers will hold a special video conference with the Ukrainian foreign minister on Monday to discuss "next steps."
According to AFP, Trump and Putin are expected to discuss peace solutions regarding Russia's war in Ukraine that began in February 2022.
President Zelenskyy of Ukraine will not attend the meeting in principle, which has raised concerns in Ukraine that the US and Russia might reach an agreement detrimental to Kyiv. Zelenskyy called on European allies, who are also excluded from the negotiations, to adopt a unified stance. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas announced on Sunday that EU foreign ministers will hold a special video conference with the Ukrainian foreign minister on Monday to discuss "next steps."
Kalas said, "President Trump is right that Russia must end the war in Ukraine. The US has the ability to force Russia to negotiate seriously." But she emphasized, "any US-Russia agreement must include Ukraine and the EU, because it concerns the security of Ukraine and the entire Europe."
German Chancellor Merkel also reiterated on Sunday that Zelenskyy should attend the summit and pointed out that "it cannot be accepted that Russia and the US discuss or even decide on territorial issues without consulting Europe and Ukraine." Earlier on Sunday, leaders of France, Germany, Italy, Poland, the UK, Finland, and the President of the European Commission, von der Leyen, jointly issued a statement warning that "Ukraine's path to peace cannot bypass Ukraine" and urged Trump to increase pressure on Russia. NATO Secretary General Rasmussen told American media that the US-Russia summit on Friday would be an "important test of Putin's willingness to end the war."
Zelenskyy has spoken with 13 European leaders, including the UK, Germany, and France, over the past three days, as well as with the presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan, Russia's traditional partners, emphasizing that "global efforts must force Russia to end its aggression." Since last Friday, Putin has also spoken with nine foreign leaders, including China, India, and Brazil, and contacted several former Soviet state leaders with close ties to Moscow.
In the battlefield, the Ukrainian army announced on Sunday that it had recaptured a village recently occupied by Russian forces in the northern Sumy region. After more than three years of conflict, both sides remain unable to reconcile their positions: Russia demands that Ukraine recognize its occupation of four areas, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporozhye, and Kherson, as well as the annexation of Crimea in 2014, and abandon Western military aid and the plan to join NATO; Ukraine insists that Russian forces must withdraw fully and demands Western security guarantees, including continuous military aid and European troops stationed in Ukraine.
Kalas reiterated the EU's position: "In the effort to achieve lasting and just peace, international law is clear - all temporarily occupied territories belong to Ukraine."
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840110090366988/
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