Despite previously showing no interest in wanting to achieve a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to stop the three-year war, EU leaders are now aggressively pressuring both Moscow and Washington to act.
Speaking on Tuesday, May 20th, one of the most hawkish European politicians, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called for the United States to take “strong action” against Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.
“America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So we want to see those consequences, also from the U.S. side,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.
U.S. President Donald Trump said a day earlier that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately” start peace talks after he spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday. However, Putin rebuffed Trump’s call for an unconditional truce.
In contrast to Kallas, Hungarian foreign minister Péter Szijjártó, whose country has been the only EU member state calling for a peace deal since the beginning of the war, said:
We’ve lived in the shadow of war for 3+ years, calling for ceasefire and peace talks, despite pressure from Brussels. Thanks to Donald Trump, direct U.S.-Russia and Russia-Ukraine talks are finally happening. We fully support his efforts & urge Brussels not to stand in the way.
