Russia’s summer offensive failed by Kaja Kallas

来源: 于 2025-11-26 18:00:10 [博客] [旧帖] [给我悄悄话] 本文已被阅读：次

We just met with the EU Foreign Ministers in video format to discuss latest developments in ending Russia’s war. Foreign Minister Sybiha also joined us online to brief us regarding the situation from the Ukrainian side. 

It is important that we continue to support Ukraine and pressure Russia. That is what we are working on. 

Everyone welcomes the United States push for peace. We all want this war to end. But how it ends also matters. We must keep in mind that there is one aggressor and one victim. 

An immediate and unconditional ceasefire must be the first step to ending the war. But right now, we see zero indications that Russia is ready for a ceasefire. Russia is not winding down its military machine but ramping it up. We still need to get from a situation where Russia pretends to negotiate to a situation where they need to negotiate. 

We are getting there. Russia’s summer offensive failed. US and EU sanctions are having a huge impact on the Russian economy. Energy revenues, the economy equally are shrinking. Russia is losing cash and troops. To increase the chance for peace, we need to increase also the pressure on Russia. The notion that Ukraine is losing is also flat out false. If Russia could conquer Ukraine militarily, it would have already done so by now. Putin cannot achieve his goals on the battlefield, so he will try to negotiate his way there.

To secure the best outcome for Ukraine and Europe, we have to stay the course but pick up the pace. This means more sanctions to deprive Russia of the means to fight and more military and financial support to Ukraine. 

In the European Council, we pledged to cover the financial needs for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027. There are, of course, several options on the table, as you know, but the Reparations Loan is the most clear-cut way to do this. It would send the strongest message to Moscow that it cannot wait us out, and we need to make this decision fast. 

We also welcomed the work of the Coalition of the Willing to hammer out the details of military support to Ukraine, and also what Europe as well as the United States can offer. The European Union itself will make a major contribution to security guarantees with funding, training and defence industry support. We are working on these details now, including the extension of our current missions in Ukraine. But security guarantees to Ukraine do not change the fact that the threat really here is Russia.

In the last 100 years, Russia has attacked more than 19 countries, some as many as three or four times. None of these countries has ever attacked Russia. So, in any peace agreement, we have to put the focus on how to get concessions from the Russian side that they stop aggression for good and do not try to change borders by force. 

There are rarely wars in the world where the situation is so clear cut as it is here. We have one aggressor and one victim. The focus should be on what Russia - the aggressor – must do, not what Ukraine – the victim – must sacrifice. Today, we reaffirmed our shared principles: sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and Ukraine’s inherent right to self-defence. Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine. 

And lastly, the threat posed by Russia extends beyond Ukraine. So, our work on strengthening the European defence remains essential. That is also why decisions concerning the EU and NATO can be made only by the members of the European Union and NATO, and nobody else. 

All this work is ultimately about ensuring that Russia never attacks again. The European Union will always support peace. We are in favour of any peace plan that will bring a just and lasting peace for Ukraine but also ensures security for Europe tomorrow.