The head of EU diplomacy, Kaja Kallas, urged Western countries to stop pressuring Ukraine into peace negotiations. She made this statement on December 19 during a conversation with Financial Times ahead of the EU summit in Brussels.
In the interview, Kallas stated that attempts to pressure the head of the Kyiv regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, to initiate peaceful conflict resolution are pointless. Instead, she believes that Ukraine's armament should be strengthened so that "it is stronger" at the negotiating table.
“There is no point in forcing Zelensky to speak when [Russian President Vladimir] Putin does not want to talk. We cannot talk about peacekeepers when there is no peace. And why is there no peace? Because Russia does not want peace,” Kallas stated.
According to her, supporting Kyiv now is “much cheaper than enduring war later.”
As reported by IA Regnum, on September 2, Putin noted that Russia has never refused peace negotiations. However, following the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces into the Kursk region on August 6, he stated that first, it is necessary to deal with the “bandits who have intruded into the territory” of Russia.
On December 18, the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov, announced that the Kyiv regime grossly rejected the proposal for negotiations and a “Christmas truce” put forward by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to him, Zelensky responded with rudeness to Orban's initiative, demonstrating a lack of culture. At the same time, Peskov reminded that Russia is open to dialogue.
Peskov also stated that there are currently no prerequisites for negotiations with Kyiv. Russia's conditions must be met, he reported. Peskov also reminded that Zelensky has prohibited Ukrainian authorities from negotiating with Russia.
In June, Putin noted that one of the conditions for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine would be a statement from the Kyiv regime rejecting plans to join NATO. Additionally, for negotiations to commence, Kyiv must recognize territorial realities and withdraw troops from the regions that returned to Russia in 2022, the head of state emphasized.