Kallas says US has pushed Ukraine to capitulate for 18 months

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday during a plenary debate in the European Parliament in Strasbourg that American negotiators have been trying to push Ukraine into capitulation for almost two years, and in its current form for a year and a half. In her words, Ukraine has not capitulated on Putin's terms only because Europe has supported it.

Kallas recalled that she presented the strategic plan for the EU's involvement in peace talks to the bloc's foreign ministers back in February 2026. In her assessment, Russia is interested above all in the lifting of sanctions, and decisions on that issue lie within Europe's competence, so Europe should have a seat at the negotiating table.

“If Russia puts forward maximalist demands, we must also put forward our own maximalist demands to balance these negotiations,” she explained. Europe, the EU's top diplomat stressed, must continue to support Ukraine: “there is no other way.” At the same time, it must be made perfectly clear that the European Union has demands of Russia as well. “We are not giving these things away for free: it is not only about peace, but about making that peace lasting and just,” she added.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz