EU foreign policy chief hopes US negotiators saw Russia's lack of readiness for peace

Olha Kovalchuk, Alona Mazurenko - 7 September, 19:30

Kaja Kallas. Photo: Kallas on Twitter (X)

Kaja Kallas, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has expressed hope that the visit of US president's special envoys to Ukraine showed them that Russia is not demonstrating any genuine interest in peace.

Source: Kallas at a press conference during her visit to Lithuania, as reported by Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT and European Pravda

Details: Commenting on Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner's visit to Kyiv on 6 September, Kallas noted that there had been no Russian strikes on the Ukrainian capital during those days.

"I'm happy to see that the first time the special envoys also visited Kyiv. What it meant for the Ukrainians was three days of no bombing for the civilians. So I think that's the positive side of this visit. Although they have been several times to Russia," the diplomat said.

Kallas expressed hope that the US negotiators had seen the situation on the ground and drawn conclusions about Russia's readiness to end the war.

Quote: "I hope that they also heard what the situation on the ground is and Ukrainians also showed them that Russia is not really interested in peace. The opposite, when they are losing the initiative on the ground, they are bombing civilians from the sky. So at the moment, we don't see that Russia is really interested in peace because they have not provided one single concession that they are able to do."

Background:

On 6 September, US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner arrived in Kyiv by train and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Sofiiska Square. The national security advisers to the leaders of France, the UK and Germany arrived in Kyiv at the same time. Before that, the US envoys had travelled to Moscow, where they held talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
On 6 September, Witkoff said that the task of the US delegation, which had visited Kyiv and Moscow over the previous two days, was to "bring the sides closer together".
Zelenskyy said that several new ideas concerning the next stage of negotiations had been put forward during the talks in Kyiv.
A source at the Élysée Palace has told European Pravda that Putin will be ready to resume peace negotiations on Ukraine after the Russian parliamentary elections on 18-20 September.

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