How the European Union comments on the new peace plan: “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine” / “Russia wants to prevent American sanctions”
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen (right), and the Head of EU Diplomacy, Kaja Kallas. Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert / AP / Profimedia
“Nothing should be decided about Ukraine without Ukraine,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday after a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to AFP, after a 28-point American plan was sent to Kiev, but in the development of which neither the Ukrainians nor the Europeans participated.
The Ukrainian president said he had “briefed” European chief executive and European Council president Antonio Costa on the Trump administration's plan to end the nearly four-year-old Russian invasion.
“As for the next steps, the European leaders will meet tomorrow (Saturday) on the sidelines of the G20 summit, then in Angola”, where a European Union-African Union summit will take place, commented Ursula von der Leyen on the X platform, Agerpres quotes.
However, Von der Leyen did not comment on the content of the plan. According to the President of the EU Council, Antonio Costa, the proposal has not yet been officially transmitted to the European Union by the United States.
The US is not participating in this year's G20 summit.
“Russia wants to prevent US sanctions with this plan”
Russia is trying to prevent the entry into force of US sanctions against its oil exports by Washington's announcement of a peace plan regarding Ukraine, the head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, also said on Friday.
“Today is the day when the US sanctions against Russia were supposed to take effect. I hope we will not see a decision to postpone them, because that is exactly what Russia wants,” Kallas told the press in Brussels, according to AFP and Agerpres.
In a move welcomed by Europeans and Ukraine, President Donald Trump's administration last month announced sanctions against Russia's two main oil companies, Lukoil and Rosneft, the effects of which began to be felt even before they took effect.
Indian petrochemical group Reliance Industries announced on Thursday that it has stopped imports of Russian crude oil to its refinery, whose products were destined for export.
Moscow is also trying to block the ongoing discussion in Brussels on using its frozen central bank assets in Europe via a “remedial loan” to Ukraine, the EU official added.
“What Russia still wants is to postpone the talks on the compensation loan so that the frozen assets are not used for the benefit of Ukraine,” Kallas said at the end of a forum that brought together the 27 EU member states and countries in Asia and Oceania. “We have to be very firm in telling our partners in Asia and Oceania that we will not fall into these two traps.”
The Europeans are discussing using these frozen assets, €210 billion of which are in Belgium, to finance a loan of around €140 billion to Ukraine.
“We all want this war to end. But how it ends is important: rewarding Russia's aggression will not make Ukraine, Europe or the Indo-Pacific region safer,” added the EU foreign policy chief.
The 28-point plan presented by the US specifically calls for Ukraine to cede the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east of the country to Russia, for Russia to return to the G8, and for Ukraine to reduce its military and never join NATO, among other things.
