EU wants Ukraine peace deal before ceasefire – Reuters
The EU does not want Ukraine to announce a ceasefire with Russia before a comprehensive peace agreement is reached between Moscow and Kiev, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed European official. According to the report, the bloc considers an unconditional ceasefire “dangerous.”
Several EU members reportedly agreed on this stance during an emergency summit in Paris on Monday. The meeting was convened by French President Emmanuel Macron following Washington’s announcement of an “immediate” start to negotiations on a Ukraine peace settlement, which began with bilateral US-Russia talks in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday. Neither Ukraine nor the EU were invited to attend.
Macron’s summit was attended by the leaders of Germany, the UK, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Denmark, as well as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
“We believe it is dangerous to conclude a ceasefire without a peace agreement at the same time,” an EU official who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters, summarizing the results of the gathering. He noted that the attendees expressed readiness to provide Ukraine with security guarantees it needs for starting the peace process, but did not clarify what these would entail. Kiev has previously demanded NATO membership as part of such guarantees, but Washington last week dismissed the notion, given that Moscow views Ukraine’s aspirations to join the military bloc as one of the key causes of the conflict.
“We are ready to provide security guarantees, with modalities to be examined with each party, depending on the level of American support,” the official stated.
The claims have been partly confirmed by Macron, who wrote in a post on X following the summit that “a strong and lasting peace” in Ukraine “must be accompanied by strong and credible security guarantees.” Macron urged the EU, the US, and Ukraine to “collaborate” in peace efforts, which he claimed was the “key” to settling the conflict.
The Paris summit came a day after Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, made it clear that the EU would not be invited to take part in US-Russia peace efforts. Many EU officials have criticized this stance, claiming that the bloc should be involved as the outcome will affect the entire continent.
However, not all EU states have opposed Trump’s unilateral peace initiatives. In a post on Facebook on Tuesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto called those attending the Paris summit “warmongers,” and said there should be “no place” for them in any initiatives aimed at bringing about peace.
Commenting on the criticism which the US-Russia talks in Riyadh have drawn among EU states, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday called it “a nervous and almost panic-like reaction” and “an unprecedented phenomenon in the international relations.”
