LIVE - War in Ukraine: “We must be collectively serious”, Emmanuel Macron ensures that we must not “give in” to the “Russian threat”

The European Union adopted new sanctions on Monday against nearly 1,600 entities and individuals, all linked to the war led by Russia against Ukraine, announced the head of EU diplomacy Kaja Kallas.

“This is the largest expansion of our sanctions list since the start of the war led by Russia. Europe is once again showing a united front,” she declared on X.

Ukraine will “respond” if Russia does not respect an energy truce this winter, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday after the unexpected announcement by the American president of a “ceasefire” on energy infrastructure between kyiv and Moscow.

“This winter, if Russia does not agree to an energy ceasefire, we will respond,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a videoconference speech to a security forum in Warsaw. “If Russia wants us to stop our long-range strikes against its oil refineries and oil exports, then Russia must stop these strikes against our energy system and critical infrastructure. And stop killing our people,” he added.

He also stressed that during the night from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine had not struck any energy site in Russia, unlike Moscow which targeted, he denounced, a gas site and “an ordinary gas station”. “There have been Russian violations of the energy ceasefire announced by President Trump,” he continued, specifying that, as of Monday morning, “Russian jet drones” continue “to fly over the skies of kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.”

Since this summer, Russia has significantly intensified its attacks against Ukraine, targeting the capital in particular by launching swarms of jet drones, which are more difficult to intercept than conventional drones. The Ukrainian president also called on the United States to maintain “pressure” on Russia, and not to make concessions.

“We need American pressure on Russia, not sanctions relief, not concessions, but real pressure, so that we can obtain at least what the American president talked about in his message yesterday,” he insisted, in reference to the “energy ceasefire” announced by Donald Trump. Donald Trump announced on Friday that he had negotiated the delivery of massive quantities of Russian diesel to the American and global markets, to do so lifting sanctions weighing on Moscow.

The European Union is ready to support a truce on strikes on energy infrastructure between Russia and Ukraine “as soon as it holds,” its head of diplomacy Kaja Kallas said on Monday. “Of course, we will welcome the ceasefire as soon as it holds,” she said before the start of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “We do not yet have the certainty that Russia will comply with it,” she added.

Any truce should cover much more than just the oil refineries in the two countries “where Ukraine has one and Russia has many, so it clearly benefits the Russians,” she said. The best way to end these strikes against oil refineries in Russia or power plants in Ukraine is for Moscow to end the war, Kaja Kallas stressed.

“Our message is clear: if we want to end this war, the only way to do it is to put more pressure on Russia,” explained the former Estonian prime minister, calling on the United States to “put in place the necessary sanctions so that we can actually end this war”. “There is no other way: pressure on Russia and support for Ukraine,” summarized the head of Latvian diplomacy Baiba Braze.

Emmanuel Macron affirmed on Monday that we must not “give in” to “the Russian threat”, in response to a series of decisions and comments from Donald Trump seeming to go in the direction of Russia vis-à-vis Ukraine.

“I think we have to be collectively serious,” the French president told the press on the sidelines of a visit to the Paris Motor Show, specifying that he would speak to his American counterpart during the day. “Today, I believe, we have no factual reason to change our position. Russia continues to bomb both civilians and infrastructure in Ukraine. And so yes to seek a ceasefire on energy (...), no to give in to the Russian threat,” he added.