Zelenskyy pushes Sweden defense deal as EU weighs tougher Russia stance

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Stockholm on Thursday for talks with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on bilateral defense cooperation.

Zelenskyy said on social media that the countries were working on a deal to provide Kyiv with Swedish Gripen fighter jets in exchange for Ukrainian drone technology and expertise in what he called a "major defense package."

In more than four years of fighting against Russia's invasion, Ukraine has become a leader in drone technology, both defensively and increasingly offensively. Ukrainian drones patrol the 1,250-kilometer front line in eastern Ukraine and strike deeper at Russian supply routes.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Wednesday that Ukraine's mid-range and front-line drone strike campaigns are limiting Russia's ability to transport personnel to the front line and sustain its positions.

Also on Wednesday, the head of the United Kingdom's intelligence agency, GCHQ, said Russia was "going backwards on the battlefield" and cited new data showing that "almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began."

Ukrainian drone expertise has been in high demand in the Middle East since Gulf states became targets of retaliatory Iranian strikes, and Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian specialists have also helped defend U.S. military bases in the region.

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, were expected to join EU foreign ministers in Cyprus on Thursday to discuss developments in the conflict in the Middle East.

India and the European Union announced a far-reaching free trade agreement in January, but trade between India and the EU via Saudi Arabia and the Gulf has been affected by the war in Iran and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Indian rice exports to Gulf states have fallen by more than 5% this year despite a record harvest, with cargoes bound for Saudi Arabia delayed in transit because of the conflict, leading buyers and exporters to hold back on new deals.

The crisis has also intensified relations between the three partners, with the EU repeatedly declaring its solidarity with the Gulf states when they came under retaliatory strikes from Iran.

"It is not in anybody's interest that this war continues," said EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, saying that Iran and the United States were currently in a "very dangerous zone" between peace and war.

The European Union intends to take a "maximalist" approach in any talks with Russia on a peace deal in Ukraine, including a potential withdrawal of Russian troops from separatist areas of Georgia and Moldova and limitations to its military, Kallas said.

"It's a maximalist approach, but so is Russia's approach so far," she told reporters in Cyprus on Thursday, adding that the European Union will also refuse to recognize Russian control over territories seized by force and demand that Moscow respect international agreements.

"The aim is to get Russia to step back from this spiral of escalating violence," German Minister of State for Europe Gunther Krichbaum said, adding that preparations for additional EU sanctions against Russia are underway.

"Russia appears to have no intention whatsoever of curbing its aggression, quite the contrary," he said, referring to ballistic and hypersonic missile strikes on Ukraine this week. "The pressure on Russia must increase, and that is so important."

Kallas also warned member states not to fall into the Russian "trap" of getting sidetracked by a debate over who might represent the bloc in any future peace talks on Ukraine.

"It's a trap that Russia wants us to walk into, that we discuss who talks to them, while they are already picking who is suitable and who is not," she said on the sidelines of an EU foreign ministers' meeting in the Cypriot port city of Limassol. "Let's not walk into that trap."

Earlier this month, Moscow suggested former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder as mediator, while Finnish President Alexander Stubb, former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi and former German chancellor Angela Merkel have also been proposed.

But Kallas quickly dismissed such ideas, saying: "Negotiations are always a team effort. You have 'good cops,' you have 'bad cops,' you have a strategy. The substance is much more important than the who."

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said: "Europe will decide the name of the negotiator, not Mr. Putin."

Ukraine is pushing for Europe to play a more forceful role in negotiations, especially with the United States seemingly distracted by the conflict in the Middle East.

"Europe must be involved in the negotiations," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote this month. "It is important for it to have a strong voice and presence in this process, and it is worth determining who will represent Europe specifically."

But there is still reluctance for Europe to take over Washington's role as neutral mediator, with one EU diplomat telling Reuters: "It is hard to see how the EU could become a mediator or broker in the talks and step in for the US, given how much we have supported Ukraine."

How Belarus may still play a role in Russia's war in Ukraine