EU High Representative for Security and Foreign Policy Kaja Kallas has spoken about the atmosphere during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on 20 November amid Western media reports that the USA and Russia are holding non-public talks on ending the war without Ukraine.
Discussions were calm and with a focus on what the European Union can do, Kallas said at the final press conference, according to Radio Liberty’s correspondent in Brussels.
“The ministers were quite collected and, I would say, calm, because we have seen similar situations before. Various ‘peace plans’ cannot work unless they are supported by Europeans and Ukrainians. That is why we are focusing today on what we are doing and what our course of action is,” Kallas said.
According to her, Brussels’ plan has two components: pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine. To pressure Russia, the EU is seeking to cut its oil revenues.
“Today we discussed the ‘shadow fleet’ in great detail, because the EU intelligence chief, who was at our meeting, gave concrete examples and figures of how sanctions against the shadow fleet affect Russian oil revenues funding the war. And that is the approach we are taking,” Kallas said.
U.S. media reported the day before that the U.S. and Russia are holding non-public talks on ending the war without Ukraine.
Media write about the 28-point “Witkoff plan”, which basically meets the Kremlin’s demands: concessions on territories, rejection of NATO, limitation of the army and military aid.
The media attribute the development of the plan to US official Steve Whitkoff, who is responsible for contacts with Russia. Whitkoff, the special envoy of the US president, spent 24-26 October in Miami, where he and other members of the team met with Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev after the US imposed new sanctions against Russia.
According to The Wall Street Journal, not only did Special Envoy Witkoff, whom Europe reportedly considers too amenable to Russian arguments, but also Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner worked on the plan.
According to NBC News, the plan for a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war against Ukraine, which senior US administration officials have been secretly developing in consultation with Moscow, has already received the support of US President Donald Trump.
Officially, US authorities have not announced details regarding the plan. Kiev also did not officially comment on the content of the proposals, the President’s office only said that Vladimir Zelensky received the draft plan from the US side and expects to discuss it with Donald Trump.
“The President of Ukraine outlined the principled foundations that are important for our people, and as a result of today’s meeting, they agreed to work on the points of the plan in such a way that it will give a dignified end to the war. Ukraine has been striving for peace since the first seconds of the Russian invasion, and we support all substantive proposals that can bring real peace closer. Ukraine has supported President Trump’s proposals since the beginning of this year to end the bloodshed. Ready and now to work constructively with the American side and our partners in Europe and the world so that the result is peace,” the OP said in a statement.
EU diplomatic chief Kaja Kallas said that Kiev and Europe should be involved in any peace plan for Ukraine.