A transatlantic rift 'would make Russia stronger'. 'Let's not give them that,' the EU's foreign affairs chief tells
Euronews in an exclusive interview.
"Russia wants to see the US and Europe divided. Let’s not give them that," the EU's foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas has told Euronews.
Speaking live on Euronews' Europe Today on Wednesday, Kallas said that there is "no wedge" between Brussels and Trump's administration, and urged both sides to remain united in the face of Russia's aggression in Ukraine.
Kallas also said that the current talks are "shuttle diplomacy" and that Europe will have a seat on the table when formal negotiations on a peace settlement start.
"There is no table where Russia and Ukraine are sitting right now. It’s a shuttle diplomacy," she said, a day after a call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin in which both presidents agreed to a temporary 30-day halt on strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
"Of course for any deal to work you need Europeans around the table to agree to the deal. Because the implementation of the deal needs to be in the hands of Europe."
Asked about her response to the Putin-Trump call, Kallas said: "It’s really good to see how these things are going. Trump was clear that aid to Ukraine was not discussed. Putin said it was discussed. I’d rather trust Trump on this than President Putin."
According to reports, Putin demanded that the West halt its deliveries of military aid to Ukraine as a precondition for the limited 30-day ceasefire. Trump later claimed in an interview with Fox news that military aid was "not discussed."
Trump also hailed that call as "productive", but the limited ceasefire agreed falls short of the comprehensive halt to fighting on land, sea and air that the US President had hoped to secure.
