Although the United States has not yet agreed to a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, the European Union plans to move on with a fresh round of penalties against Russia in an effort to put further pressure on Vladimir Putin.
But because of Hungary’s unwavering resistance and lack of cooperation with Washington, the penalties have a difficult time getting authorised. Brussels’ plan calls on strengthening the price ceiling on Russian crude oil, which may be very hard to do without US assistance.
Following a phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that an 18th package with more severe penalties was being prepared.
While acknowledging that reaching a unanimous agreement among member states would be “difficult,” High Representative Kaja Kallas stated that the obstacle shouldn’t stop the bloc from proceeding.
We don’t seem to have an option. “We need to exert more pressure,” Kallas said as he arrived in Brussels for a conference of foreign affairs ministers. We hope the US side will experience such repercussions as well. There hasn’t been much pressure on Russia due to these discussions.
Trump and Putin spoke over the phone for two hours on Monday, after which the US president said that Russia and Ukraine will “immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war.
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