By Anietie anii-bassey
European Union officials are preparing a detailed list of demands they believe Russia must meet to secure any lasting peace in Ukraine, signaling growing frustration in Brussels with negotiations led by the United States that have so far produced little progress nearly four years into the war.
The effort comes amid continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure even as diplomats from Moscow and Kyiv gather for talks abroad.
During a recent round of U.S.-brokered discussions in Abu Dhabi, Russian forces fired cluster munitions at a crowded market in Ukraine, killing seven people, according to Ukrainian officials. The meetings ended without a breakthrough, though both sides agreed to another prisoner exchange.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who last year said he could end the conflict in a day and later revised that timeline to 100 days, has now given both governments until June to reach an agreement. European leaders, however, have grown skeptical that Moscow is negotiating in good faith or that European and Ukrainian security concerns are being fully reflected at the negotiating table.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the bloc has begun work on what she called a “sustainable peace plan” designed to pressure Russia into meaningful concessions.
“We have just seen increased bombing by Russians during these talks,” Kallas said, noting renewed strikes on Ukraine’s electricity network during what has been the harshest winter of the war. “That does not suggest serious intent.”
While praising Washington’s diplomatic engagement, Kallas stressed that Europe must play a central role in shaping any settlement. The 27-nation bloc, she said, will not support an agreement crafted without its input.
“To have sustainable peace, everybody around the table — including the Russians and the Americans — needs to understand that you need Europeans to agree,” she said. “We also have conditions, and those conditions should not be imposed on Ukrainians who have already been under enormous pressure. They should be imposed on Russia.”
Among the measures under discussion are demands that Moscow return thousands of Ukrainian children whom Kyiv says were taken to Russian-controlled territory during the conflict, along with postwar limits on the size and structure of Russia’s armed forces. Moscow has long argued that Ukraine’s military should be capped, a position European officials reject.
“The Ukrainian army is not the issue,” Kallas said. “It’s the Russian army. It’s Russian military expenditure. If they spend so much on the military, they will eventually use it again.”
Draft proposals are expected to circulate among EU capitals in the coming days, ahead of a meeting of the bloc’s foreign ministers later this month. Any common position would require agreement among all member states, a process that often involves intense internal negotiation.
Kallas said Ukraine’s heavy reliance on U.S. military and financial assistance has left Kyiv in a vulnerable position during talks, forcing it to consider compromises that Europeans believe should instead be demanded of Moscow.
“Pressuring the weaker party might get faster results on paper,” she said, “but that is only a declaration of peace. It is not a sustainable peace, and it does not guarantee that Russia will not attack again.”
European leaders insist they are not trying to launch a rival diplomatic process to Washington’s efforts, which Russia would likely dismiss outright. Still, Kallas argued that the political framing of the war must shift.
“Everybody wants this war to stop, except the Russians,” she said. “We can push them to the point where they actually want to end it. They are not there yet, and unfortunately, there is no easy solution.”
She pointed to intelligence assessments suggesting that President Vladimir Putin’s government is facing mounting difficulties replenishing its forces and that Western sanctions are increasingly straining Russia’s economy, where inflation has surged. Those pressures, she argued, could eventually alter Moscow’s calculations.
Alongside diplomatic initiatives, the EU is also moving forward with new economic restrictions. Officials are working on a proposal to bar European companies from providing repairs, maintenance and other services to vessels transporting Russian oil, a step aimed at squeezing one of the Kremlin’s most important revenue streams.
Kallas said she hopes to rally support for the plan among the Group of Seven industrialized nations during upcoming meetings at the Munich Security Conference.
For now, European leaders remain cautious but determined to shape the next phase of diplomacy.
“We can push them into the place where they actually want to end this war,” Kallas said again. “They are not there yet.”
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