Kaja Kallas: “The only way to get Russia to negotiate seriously is putting some more pressure on Russia”

This was highlighted by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President of the European Commission Kaja Kallas after the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council in Luxembourg on 14 April 2025. Thank you, it is good to see you here in Luxembourg. It is my first time in this building, so it is interesting and different. We had many important topics that we discussed today. First, of course, Ukraine. It is clear that all Member States want peace. And, remember, we had 27 [EU] countries who supported the ceasefire. Also, Ukraine agreed to unconditional ceasefire already a month ago. Yet, we are seeing that Russia alone wants war, because we [saw one of] the deadliest attacks yesterday: Sumy air strikes over the weekend. It is clear that they are stalling and [do] not want peace at all. So, the only way to get Russia to negotiate seriously is putting some more pressure on Russia. Then, second the military aid to Ukraine. I mean, one [part] is putting pressure on Russia, but then the other part is also helping Ukraine to defend itself. It is clear that we are the biggest provider of military aid, we are also the biggest buyer from the Ukraine defence industry and the biggest supporter of the defence industry. We also have the mission of training Ukrainian soldiers [EUMAM Ukraine], [we have already trained] over 73,000 soldiers. So, today we also discussed what more we [can] do when it comes to the missions: should we expand the...