The European Union’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas on Wednesday called for additional pressure on Russia to ensure the success of the US-led initiative to end the war in Ukraine.
“To secure the best outcome for Ukraine and Europe, we have to stay the course but pick up pace,” Kallas said after an exchange with EU foreign ministers and their Ukrainian counterpart Andrii Sybiha.
“This means more sanctions to deprive Russia of the means to fight and more military and financial support to Ukraine,” she added.
Kallas emphasized that there are currently no indications that Russia is prepared to agree to a ceasefire, but that the goal of putting Moscow in a position where it actually has to negotiate is getting closer.
“Russia’s summer offensive failed. US and EU sanctions are having a huge impact on the Russian economy,” she said, adding that Moscow’s economy and energy revenues are shrinking.
“Russia is losing cash and troops,” Kallas stated. “If Russia could conquer Ukraine militarily, it would have already done so by now.”
But since Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield, “he will try to negotiate his way there,” Kallas argued.
Kiev must be given the greatest possible support in the ongoing peace efforts, she said.
“There are rarely wars in the world where the situation is so clear-cut as it is here. We have one aggressor and one victim. The focus should be on what Russia, the aggressor, must do, not what Ukraine, the victim, must sacrifice.”
Brussels to present plans on using frozen Russian assets for Ukraine
In the ongoing debate on the use of Russian assets frozen in the EU for Ukraine, Kallas called for a quick decision.
The so-called reparations loan is “the most clear-cut way” to cover Ukraine’s financial needs for 2026 and 2027, she explained.
“It would send the strongest message to Moscow that it cannot wait us out, and we need to make this decision fast,” Kallas said.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said earlier on Wednesday that a proposal is being prepared to use Russian state assets frozen in the EU as a reparations loan for Ukraine.
“The commission is ready to present a legal text,” von der Leyen told lawmakers at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
The commission president, alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is pushing to make up to €140 billion ($162 billion) in Russian central bank assets available to Ukraine to cover the country’s financial needs in the coming years.
Belgium, where most of the assets are held, has blocked the initiative so far, urging the commission to come up with alternative funding proposals including taking on new debt.
“To be very clear, I cannot see any scenario in which the European taxpayers alone will pay the bill. This is also not acceptable,” von der Leyen stressed in her speech.
The Russian assets frozen under EU sanctions were also mentioned in the 28-point peace plan tabled by the US administration last week.
“Any decision on this needs to be taken in line with the rules of the responsible jurisdiction and will respect European and international law,” von der Leyen said.
She further reiterated the EU’s priorities for a potential deal to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
These include security guarantees for Kiev, upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia.