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European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas warned Friday that pushing Ukraine to give up territories to Russia would be a "trap that Putin wants us to walk into," as U.S. President Donald Trump set a two-week deadline for evaluating peace talks between the warring nations.
In her first U.K. interview since EU leaders joined White House peace talks with Ukraine, Kallas told the BBC's Today programme that Russian President Vladimir Putin got "everything he wanted" from his Alaska summit with Trump.
"He got such a welcoming and he wanted sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved," Kallas said. "Putin is just laughing, not stopping the killing but increasing the killing."
The EU foreign policy chief, who has been placed on the Kremlin's "wanted list," emphasized that "We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession."
Kallas confirmed the EU has prepared a 19th package of sanctions to pressure the Russian leader into further discussions.
Regarding security guarantees for Ukraine, Kallas admitted there were not many "concrete steps" for a deterring force at this stage in negotiations.
"The strongest security guarantee is a strong Ukraine army," she said, outlining the importance of establishing guarantees that were "not just on paper."
She said it was up to member states of the "coalition of the willing" to determine precisely what they could contribute, adding that it was not yet clear in what capacity those forces would operate.
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Ukrainian President Zelenskyy cast doubt on Putin's readiness for direct talks, accusing Russia of avoiding the necessity of a leaders' meeting.
"Current signals from Russia are, to be honest, indecent. They're trying to avoid the necessity to meet. They don't want to end this war," Zelenskyy told reporters Thursday, according to Agence France-Presse.
Zelenskyy said he is willing to meet Putin "in any format," but noted there was still no sign from Moscow that they "truly intend to engage in substantive negotiations."
The Ukrainian president also pressed Western allies for clarity on security guarantees, saying Ukraine would like to "have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days."
"We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment," he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday established a two-week timeframe for assessing the progress of Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations.
"I would say within two weeks we're going to know one way or the other," Trump said in a telephone interview with Newsmax host Todd Starnes. "After that, we'll have to maybe take a different tack."
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