Coming week could be 'pivotal' for Ukraine diplomacy: EU's Kallas

BRUSSELS

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas said Monday that this week could be crucial for the push to end the Ukraine war, as US representatives head to Moscow after talks with Kiev's negotiators.

"It could be a pivotal week for diplomacy. We heard yesterday that the talks in America were difficult but productive. We don't know the results yet, but I will talk to the defence minister of Ukraine as well as foreign minister of Ukraine today," Kallas said at a meeting of EU defence ministers.

President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff will head to Russia on Monday, as Washington pushes to end the Kremlin's war against its neighbour Ukraine.

Putin will hold talks on Ukraine with Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday afternoon, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing on Monday, adding that it will take place "in the second half of the day."

Witkoff's visit follows high-stakes negotiations on Sunday between top officials in Trump's administration and a Ukrainian delegation in Florida.

Kallas sidestepped a question on whether she trusted the United States to negotiate a good deal.

Instead she said it would be better if Europe — which has largely been sidelined by Washington — were a part of diplomatic efforts involving Ukraine.

"The Ukrainians are there alone. If they would be together with Europeans, they would definitely be much stronger. But I trust that the Ukrainians stand up for themselves," she said.

In the meantime, she said that Europe needed to focus on making "Ukraine as strong as possible in order (for) them to be ready to stand up for themselves in this very, very difficult time".

The EU is currently wrangling over a plan to provide Ukraine a mammoth 140-billion-euro loan funded by Russian frozen assets, but the proposal faces opposition from key player Belgium.

Kallas said the bloc was determined to reach a "result for the financing of Ukraine" at a Dec. 18 leaders summit, saying "we are not going to leave" without a deal.