EU chief diplomat Kallas: Don't push Zelenskyy to negotiate peace when Putin doesn't want to talk

European Union chief diplomat Kaja Kallas has said that Western states should stop offering peace talks to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and instead ensure that their promises of security guarantees to Kyiv are not "hollow".

Source: European Pravda with reference to the Financial Times

Details: Before the EU leaders' summit on 19 December, Kallas said that it was pointless to push Zelenskyy to peace talks when Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin did not show a desire to end the war.

Quote from Kallas: "There’s no point pushing Zelenskyy to talk when Putin doesn’t want to talk. We can’t talk about peacekeepers when there’s no peace. And why is there no peace? Because Russia does not want peace."

Details: She emphasised that supporting Ukraine now is much cheaper than enduring a war later, because "Russia has not changed their goals" and Ukraine’s allies need to be "very honest with ourselves in this regard."

Kallas also noted that the big question is what security guarantees for Ukraine consist of. She said: "The big question is, what is the security guarantee? . . . What actually is it, that is tangible? If it is not troops, if it is not long-range weapons, what is it actually that protects you and defends you when somebody is attacking you?"

Kallas asked what EU member states that have signed security guarantee agreements with Ukraine "what are they willing to put on the table that means these security guarantees would not be empty?"

She added that the EU should not underestimate its own strength and overestimate Russia's, but should do everything "to strengthen Ukraine right now because the stronger they are on the battlefield, the stronger they are behind the negotiation table – if they come to that point".

Background:

• US President-elect Donald Trump's team is known to be working on a plan to end combat actions in Ukraine and is in discussions with the current US administration and the Ukrainian side.
• Trump also recently stated that his team is working to "end the war" in Ukraine and has made "some progress".
• It is worth noting that Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda is sceptical about the idea of peace talks with Russia at the current stage of the war, when Russia is in a strong position.

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