Brussels says peace in Ukraine depends on Putin, hopes for future talks

The European Union believes that peace in Ukraine depends on a decision by Russian President Vladimir Putin and therefore does not rule out negotiations with him in the future in order to facilitate the achievement of peace in Ukraine.

This was stated by the European Commission’s chief spokesperson, Paula Pinho, at a briefing in Brussels, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“As you know, we are working very, very hard for peace in Ukraine. Peace in Ukraine depends on one single person. That person is, as you know very well, President Putin. So obviously, at some point, there will have to be talks with President Putin,” Pinho emphasized.

She added that at present, “unfortunately, we are not seeing any signs of President Putin’s engagement in such talks, so we aren’t there yet. But at some point, we hope indeed that there will be such talks that will finally lead to peace in Ukraine.”

Asked about the possible format of future talks and about an EU representative who might be authorized to negotiate with Putin, Pinho said it was too early to speculate about such technical details, as such a meeting remains impossible right now.

“It’s been months that we’re trying to see if there is finally a meeting between those directly concerned, and these are President Zelensky and President Putin, but so far this has not been possible,” the European Commission spokesperson said.

She also expressed hope that international efforts to resolve Russia’s war against Ukraine would yield results.

As reported, former Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba predicts that no agreement with the Russians on a ceasefire will be reached by the end of winter, as Russia is interested in continuing to implement its strategy of destroying Ukraine’s economy and energy sector.

Earlier, Russian leader Vladimir Putin instructed the military to continue carrying out the tasks of the so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. These orders were given after U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he believed Moscow was seeking to end the war in Ukraine.

Photo: European Commission