BRUSSELS — It’s too early to talk about a peacekeeping mission to Ukraine as Russia is not interested in peace, the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Monday.
“First, there has to be peace in order to send peacekeepers. And Russia does not want peace … that is very clear,” Kallas told reporters ahead of the first meeting of EU foreign ministers she will chair since taking over as the bloc’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
Her comments come in the wake of growing pressure from the team of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to find a quick way of ending the war.
But Kallas underlined that Moscow is not sending positive signals on looking for a way to end the fighting, pointing to a recent interview of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with U.S. media personality Tucker Carlson.
The U.S. and its allies “must understand that we would be ready to use any means not to allow them to succeed in what they call strategic defeat of Russia,” Lavrov said.
For Kallas, that’s evidence that Moscow has not “stepped away from their goals. So, we can’t discuss that.”
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron raised the peacekeeper issue during a visit to Warsaw, but was shot down by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who said: “For the moment nothing like that is planned.”
Despite Tusk’s rebuff, some EU capitals are starting to think about what to do in case the Trump administration asks Europeans to play a military role in security guarantees for Ukraine. However, the discussion is taking place only “at conceptual level,” said a European diplomat who spoke on condition of being granted anonymity.
Some European leaders are planning to meet Wednesday evening in Brussels with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and NATO chief Mark Rutte to discuss peace plans and the potential deployment of peacekeeping forces to Ukraine.
Other EU foreign ministers showing up for Monday’s summit underlined that the main focus is strengthening Ukraine and not discussing peace terms.
“It’s too early to speculate about” peacekeepers, said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.
Zelenskyy has been talking about a diplomatic solution next year “and it’s very important that between now and the moment that he believes negotiations could start … Ukraine is fully supported and that means military support, and that means support in the field of energy, energy infrastructure, it also means financial support,” Veldkamp said.
Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also stressed that Russian leader Vladimir Putin “has not changed the goal” of the war he launched more than two years ago. Ukrainians “are not asking any kind of mission right now. They are asking [for] weapons. They are asking [for] air defense. They are asking [for] support. Let’s give it,” he said.
However, if peace talks do start, then Europe needs to be ready to help, he said. “Of course we need to discuss what will be the security guarantees if the peace will come and Europe must take part of that.”
During Monday’s meeting, ministers will also adopt the 15th package of EU sanctions against Russia, including measures targeting the “shadow fleet” used to ferry oil and gas in violation of sanctions against Moscow. The package will also penalize individuals and companies accused of helping the Kremlin secure banned technologies, as well as North Korean officials.
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