Russia claims to have captured Pokrovsk – DW – 12/01/2025

“This could be an important week for diplomacy,” the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas told reporters at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on Monday.

Callas’ comments come amid ongoing talks between the US and Europe aimed at ending Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine. Referring to the US meeting, Kallas said, “We heard yesterday that the talks in the US were difficult but productive.”

Kallas ridiculed one of several demands put forward by the Kremlin for any ceasefire to be considered, namely that the size of Ukraine’s military be reduced: “The Russian military is the one that is really a risk to everybody. If Russia’s military is big, if their military budget is as big as it is now, they will want to use it again,” he warned.

When Callas was asked whether she thought the US could be trusted to make a good deal for Ukraine, she hesitated. “The Ukrainians are alone there. If they are with the Europeans, they will certainly be much stronger. But I am confident that the Ukrainians will stand up for themselves,” he said.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to arrive in Moscow on Tuesday for further talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Europeans are skeptical of Witkoff’s role, suggesting he is not negotiating in Ukraine’s best interests but instead puppeteering the Kremlin’s negotiations – a concern that was heightened by the leaking of a recent phone conversation between Witkoff and Russian negotiators, in which the American businessman advised how the Russians could win the support of US President Trump, whom most observers already consider a staunch supporter of Russia, on Ukraine.

“These are important days, and a lot can change,” Ukrainian President Zelensky said in Paris on Monday for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron.