Foreign Affairs Council: Press remarks on Ukraine by High Representative Kaja Kallas upon arrival

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Good morning! 

We have a very packed agenda today. 

First, we are going to discuss Ukraine. We have a very good plan to discuss very specifically, what more can we do with the shadow fleet, because it really has an effect on Russia's revenues to finance this war. 

But of course, now we are going to discuss also the recent news. What we, as Europeans, have always supported is a long, lasting and just peace, and we welcome any efforts to achieve that. Of course, for any plan to work, it needs Ukrainians and Europeans on board. This is very clear. 

Also, we have to understand that in this war, there is one aggressor and one victim. We have not heard of any concessions on the Russian side. If Russia really wanted peace, it could have had agreed to unconditional cease fire already some time ago. Whereas we see again over this night bombings of civilians. 93% of Russian targets have been civilian infrastructure - schools, hospitals, apartment buildings - to kill a lot of people and cause as much suffering as possible.  This is our standing.  

Q&A 

Q: Have European officials in any way been a part of the drafting of these packages mentioned between US and Russia? 

Not that I know of.

Q: Do you think only Donald Trump can end this war? 

No, in order to end this war, you need the Ukrainians and the Europeans to agree to those plans. Of course, Putin could end this war immediately, if he just stopped bombing civilians and killing people. But we have not seen any concessions on the Russian side. We welcome all the meaningful efforts to end this war. But like we have said before, it has to be just and lasting. That also means that the Ukrainians, but also Europeans, agree to this. 

Link to the video: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/media/video/I-281098