Europe and Ukraine should be part of the negotiations — Kallas

The European Union's chief diplomat, Kaja Kallas, made a statement on the peace talks, saying that Europe and Ukraine should be involved.

Kaja Kallas made the statement on Thursday, February 13, according to Reuters.

Peace talks to end the war

Kallas emphasized that Europe will support Ukraine if Kyiv does not agree to the terms of the peace agreement concluded between the United States and Russia.

According to her, for any agreement to work, Europe and Ukraine must be involved in the negotiations. She said it would be a bad tactic to give in to Moscow before the talks even begin.

"Any quick fix is a dirty deal, that we have seen before when it comes to Minsk for example. If Ukraine decides to resist — Europe will back the principles, Europe will back Ukraine. And yes, we are 20 % less if the U.S. decides to withdraw, but still Ukraine will defend the principles of soverignty, territorial integrity and priciples that Europe is also stands for. And we are there it together," said Kallas.

Callas noted that excluding Ukraine from the NATO accession process in exchange for so-called "security guarantees" is not a path to peace, but a concession to the Kremlin.

"Why are we giving them (Russia) everything that they want even before the negotiations have been started?...It is clear that any deal behind our backs will not work. Any agreement will need also Ukraine and Europe being part of it," Kaja said.

Kallas noted that this should not be taken off the agenda before negotiations begin.

Earlier, The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Poland, Germany, and the European Union demanded European participation in future ceasefire negotiations.

Also, Carlo Massala said that a conversation between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian dictator Vladimir Putin suggests that "Russia has won this war". Negotiations are being conducted "over the heads of Ukrainians and Europeans".