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Russia must make concessions as part of any peace deal, says EU’s Kallas

The EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, warned on Wednesday that Russia must reduce its military power and make serious concessions to achieve a “just and lasting peace” in Ukraine.

“In any peace agreement, we have to put the focus on how to get concessions from the Russian side, that they stop aggression for good and do not try to change borders by force,” Kallas said after an extraordinary meeting of EU foreign ministers.

“We have one aggressor and one victim. The focus should be on what Russia, the aggressor, must do, not on what Ukraine, the victim, must sacrifice,” she added.

Her comments come after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration circulated a 28-point plan last week that alarmed Ukraine and its European allies for heavily favoring Moscow.

Wednesday’s online meeting was seen in Brussels as a chance to “speak with one European voice” and set out the EU’s non-negotiables, ensuring all 27 members remain aligned as negotiations accelerate.

Kallas said the draft plan did not include “one single concession” from Moscow and argued that a deal must impose obligations on Russia, including curbing the size of its army and military spending. “If you spend close to 40 percent [of total government spending] on your military, you will want to use it again, and that is a threat to us all,” she said.

Kallas noted Russia’s history of hostility: “If aggression pays off, it will serve as an invitation to use aggression again and to use it also elsewhere, and that is a threat for everybody in the world, especially for smaller countries. And in Europe … there are only two types of countries, the small countries and those who haven’t realized that they are small countries yet.”

On Sunday, officials from the U.S., Ukraine, France, Germany, the U.K. and the EU met in Geneva to revise the U.S. plan. Washington and Kyiv later said the talks produced an “updated and refined framework” for further discussions.

Speaking in Strasbourg, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that “thanks to the work of Ukraine, the United States and us Europeans over the last few days in Geneva, we now have a starting point,” while warning that “much more effort is needed.”

Von der Leyen also confirmed plans to fast-track the use of frozen Russian assets to underpin a €140 billion loan to Ukraine, a move that Belgium opposed during last month’s European Council over concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin would retaliate against Belgium, where the assets are held.

Asked whether Belgium was wrong to block aspects of the frozen-assets loan mechanism, Kallas described its concerns as “legitimate” and said that “everybody around the table” was listening and working to mitigate the risks.

LP Staff Writers

Writers at Lord’s Press come from a range of professional backgrounds, including history, diplomacy, heraldry, and public administration. Many publish anonymously or under initials—a practice that reflects the publication’s long-standing emphasis on discretion and editorial objectivity. While they bring expertise in European nobility, protocol, and archival research, their role is not to opine, but to document. Their focus remains on accuracy, historical integrity, and the preservation of events and individuals whose significance might otherwise go unrecorded.

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