EU foreign policy chief on Ukraine-Russia talks: 'Any quick fix is a dirty deal'
The European Union’s (EU) foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said “any quick fix” in forging a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia should not be done without the involvement of the rest of Europe because one would result in a “dirty deal.”
“I would say that we shouldn’t take anything off the table before the negotiations have even started because it plays to Russia’s court and it is what they want,” Kallas said Thursday ahead of a meeting with NATO defense ministers. "Why are we giving them everything they want even before the negotiations have started? It’s appeasement, it has never worked."
President Trump spoke to both Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday. Trump said the imperative was to come up with a peace deal between the two Eastern European countries and end the nearly three-year war.
He first spoke to Putin and then called Zelensky, who said Wednesday that Ukraine is ready for a peace agreement.
“Together with the U.S., we are charting our next steps to stop Russian aggression and ensure a lasting, reliable peace. As President Trump said, let’s get it done,” Zelensky said.
Trump also told reporters Wednesday that Ukraine does not have a high chance of regaining the borders the country had before the 2014 annexation of Crimea. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Ukraine’s path to NATO might not be a “realistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
Kallas countered Hegseth's view, stating that NATO membership is the “strongest guarantee there is, and actually it’s also the cheapest security guarantee there is.”
Trump and his administration’s recent actions have set off alarms among European leaders who are looking to join the negotiating table since any development on the Russia-Ukraine front will likely have a significant impact on other European nations.
“If there’s an agreement made behind our backs it will simply not work because you need, for any kind of deal, any kind of agreement, you need Europeans to implement this deal,” Kallas said on Thursday. “You need Ukrainians to implement this deal. I mean, that also doesn’t look good if somebody agrees on something and everybody else says, ‘Fine, you have agreed, but we will not follow this.’”
"The Ukrainians will resist and we will support them,” Kallas added.
On Thursday, while visiting a nuclear power plant, Zelensky said a peace deal must involve Ukraine, but that one should be implemented once “a plan to stop Putin has been worked out.” He also said it was “not pleasant” for Trump to first dial the Kremlin leader before contacting himself.
Kallas was not the only EU leader who expressed concern about Trump's Wednesday calls.
France’s defense minister spoke out, opposing the "peace through weakness" while Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovilė Šakalienė stated the European continent should not fall "under the illusion that Mr. Trump and Mr. Putin are going to find the solution for all of us,” according to Reuters.
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