Assuming concessions before any negotiation is a huge mistake, says European Council president on Ukraine peace
Pravda Ukraine
António Costa, President of the European Council, has emphasised that only Ukraine can decide when the conditions for peace talks are in place.
Source: Costa in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, as reported by European Pravda
Details: Costa stated that Ukraine has been resisting Russian aggression for nearly three years and that Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin has failed in his attempt to subjugate it.
“Today my message is clear. We are not giving up. We will continue to support Ukraine as an integral part of our project for peace. Only Ukraine can define when there are conditions for a negotiation. Assuming concessions before any negotiation is a huge mistake,” he stressed.
He noted that the EU will stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine: “in the negotiations, providing security guarantees, in reconstruction and as a future member of the European Union”.
Costa noted that sustainable peace “cannot be a simple ceasefire”.
“It [a ceasefire] cannot give Russia the opportunity to attack ever again. It cannot reward the aggressor. It must guarantee that Russia will no longer be a threat to Ukraine, to Europe, to its neighbours,” he added.
He concluded there could be no credible negotiations or lasting peace without Ukraine and the European Union.
Background:
- On 13 February, the Kremlin announced that it had begun preparing a negotiating team to organise a meeting between Russian leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
- Trump also announced that he had instructed US Secretary of State Mark Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and Ambassador and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff to “lead the negotiations which, I feel strongly, will be successful”.
- Meanwhile, the US president pledged that Ukraine would be a participant in future negotiations on “ending the war”.
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