Kallas: Pressure Russia, not Ukraine, to end war

European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas said on Thursday that international efforts to end the war in Ukraine should focus on pressuring Russia rather than forcing Kyiv to make concessions.

"We see that we have to pressure the aggressor to stop the war, not the victim, to surrender," Kallas told reporters ahead of the European Council meeting. "Squeezing Ukraine is not the right approach. And that's why Europe is standing by Ukraine," she stressed.

Kallas also said that decisions concerning frozen Russian assets and the removal of sanctions remain in Europe's hands.

"These things are not given for free to them," she said. Turning to the Middle East, she called for additional ships for the EU's Aspides naval mission, which escorts vessels in the Red Sea. "I want to also stress that we can be and are a security provider in the region," she added.

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• Russian-Ukrainian war
• Kaja Kallas