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EU's Kallas warns against Ukraine talks giving in to Russian aggression
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
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Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 20, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 26, 2026
EU's Kallas warns against appeasing Russia in Ukraine talks, emphasizing pressure over mediation. Trump's approach raises concerns.
By Tannur Anders and Nellie Peyton
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that interactions between the United States and Russia showed Moscow had not given up its territorial goals in Ukraine, and that appeasing it would send a dangerous signal.
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump shocked Europeans by arranging bilateral peace talks with Russia without including Ukraine, raising concerns that his approach to ending the conflict will benefit Russia.
"We understand from those interactions that they (Russia) have had with the Americans (that) ... they haven't given up their goals," Kallas on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of foreign ministers in Johannesburg.
"They want to have the maximum and plus on top of it."
She warned that "if we are giving everything on the plate to the aggressor, it sends a signal to all the aggressors in the world that you can do this".
Kallas said that some countries were focusing too much on mediation when they should be putting political and economic pressure on Russia to end the war.
Trump on Wednesday called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a "dictator" and urged him to accept a peace deal with Russia or risk losing his country.
"The point right now that is somewhat overlooked is that Russia does not want peace," Kallas said.
She added that it was premature to talk about sending peacekeeping troops to Ukraine - something that was discussed by European leaders in Paris this week - before a ceasefire.
British foreign minister David Lammy said earlier on Thursday that he saw no appetite from Russia during the day's meetings for peace with Ukraine.
(Reporting by Tannur Anders and Nellie Peyton; Additional reporting by Thando Hlophe and Tim Cocks; Editing by Tim Cocks and Sandra Maler)
Kaja Kallas warned that giving in to Russian demands sends a signal to aggressors worldwide that such behavior is acceptable.
President Trump referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as a 'dictator' and urged him to accept a peace deal with Russia.
Kallas stated that it is somewhat overlooked that Russia does not want peace, emphasizing the need for political and economic pressure instead.
Kallas indicated that discussing the deployment of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine is premature until a ceasefire is established.
David Lammy expressed that there was no indication of Russia's appetite for peace during the day's meetings.
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