Ukraine and Europe want peace, the only constant source of violence is Russia, the entire continent is under threat, said today the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen at a joint press conference with the President of the European Council Antonio Costa after the end of the two-day meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU countries in Brussels, BTA reports.
The EU must be among the architects of achieving a just and lasting peace, she added. Sooner or later, Russia will have to join the talks, especially with the help of the pressure of European sanctions. When that time comes, we must be able to send a unified message to President (Vladimir) Putin. With President Košta, we will continue to work together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to achieve this goal, Von der Leyen said.
Košta specified that the meeting discussed the misunderstandings surrounding the attempt by representatives of his team to establish a diplomatic channel of communication with Moscow. The EU has no intention of being a mediator in the negotiations, since it is on the side of Ukraine and will remain with Kiev after the war, he added. It is clear that, unfortunately, we have no visible sign of readiness from Russia to engage in serious negotiations for now, Košta said.
We cannot rely solely on others to convey Russian messages, we must be able to send our messages directly to Russia. I do not see any contradiction and rivalry between the different actors. Only Ukraine can negotiate on its own behalf. The EU must also have a role in terms of security guarantees. European interests must be protected by European institutions, on the basis of the EU treaties, Costa summarized.
He described the substantive start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU as a historic step forward and noted that for the first time since 2024, the European Council was able to adopt its decisions unanimously.
Von der Leyen pointed out that for the first time last night, the EU extended the term of the sanctions already adopted against Russia not by six months, but by 12 months. She said work on expanding sanctions was continuing.
The Europeans must be at the table whenever peace talks are held to end the war in Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said earlier today, as quoted by Reuters.
“We have always supported the idea that when negotiations start, the Europeans must be at the table, because this also affects Europe”, Macron said at the end of an EU summit in Brussels.
Macron added that European Council President Antonio Costa should take part in such talks if his role in that capacity is clearly defined.
The French president also said that his country does not support the creation of so-called “return centers” of migrants in third countries, although he respects countries that want to establish such centers.
Macron added that he was not sure that these centers were in line with European values and questioned their effectiveness.
At least three people were killed and six others were injured in Russian shelling of the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Reuters reported, citing a Telegram post by Donetsk region governor Vadym Filashkin.
Two strikes were carried out on the city, hitting a car park and a high-rise building.
Kramatorsk is part of the "fortified belt" of Ukrainian cities, considered by Russia to be a key target in its quest to conquer the entire Donetsk region.
Earlier, the head of the city's military administration, Oleksandr Goncharenko, reported a woman killed and a teenager wounded, Ukrinform recalls.
It was earlier reported that Russian forces killed two residents of the Donetsk region and wounded four more over the past 24 hours.
Russian forces attacked a critical infrastructure facility in the city of Zaporizhia, two men were injured, Ukrinform reported, citing information on Telegram from the head of the Zaporizhia regional military administration, Ivan Fedorov.
"The enemy attacked a critical infrastructure facility in Zaporizhia. Two men - aged 60 and 50 - were injured. They are receiving medical assistance,” he wrote.
It was previously reported that Russian military forces had struck a gas station in Zaporozhye, where two people were injured. Both refused hospitalization.
The full extent of damage to the infrastructure has not yet been determined.
Continuous drone and artillery attacks over the past two days have caused serious damage to the energy facilities of Ukrainian private energy group DTEK in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the company said, as quoted by Reuters. Fires broke out at some of the sites and some were attacked repeatedly, the company said on Telegram.