The head of Russian diplomacy said Monday that Ukrainian President Volodmyr Zelensky did not “deserve” a truce to organize a presidential election in Ukraine.
“I don’t think he deserves this respite, I don’t think we’re going to let ourselves be bought off by assurances and promises once again,” Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference.
Ukraine's allies should ask President Volodymyr Zelensky to "hit more data centers" in Russia, Lithuanian Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevicius told the Warsaw Security Forum.
“We should ask Volodymyr Zelensky to hit more data centers in Russia, I think that could help,” he said in response to a question about what Lithuania, Poland and other allies could do to protect the elections from hybrid attacks.
The Russian presidency refused to say Monday whether a truce with Ukraine in attacks on energy infrastructure was in force, claiming to maintain “contacts” regarding this ceasefire announced unilaterally by Donald Trump.
“Contacts continue. As soon as we have something to say on this subject, we will not fail to inform you,” declared Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov during his press briefing. Asked about kyiv's call for a 60-day total ceasefire to allow elections to be held, Peskov replied: "We don't want a ceasefire, we want lasting peace."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Monday called on “the entire West” to be firmer towards President Vladimir Putin’s Russia which “is fighting for domination”.
“This is the moment when the entire West – Europe, the United States – must show Russia and Putin its determination to pursue a policy of containing Russia with even firmer means,” he declared at the Warsaw Security Forum, referring to a policy of sanctions. “If Ukraine fights, it is for its survival,” while Russia “fights for domination,” he added.
“This is why I am going to go to Brussels to convince all our European partners to seriously consider strengthening sanctions against Russia,” he added, ahead of a summit to be held later this week. Poland - a member of NATO and the EU, bordering Russia - has been a close ally of Ukraine since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, providing crucial military and humanitarian aid.
She has repeatedly accused Russia of sabotage and hybrid warfare on Polish soil, accusations Moscow rejects. In September, Donald Tusk warned that Russia's plans for its war in Ukraine included "hybrid" drone and missile strikes against kyiv's allies, including Warsaw.
The centrist and pro-European prime minister has repeatedly said that Poland will remain an unwavering ally of Ukraine, and he called for solidarity from other Western countries. “We in Poland remember very well how Nazi propaganda tried to convince Europe and the world that Poland was responsible for German aggression,” he said, stressing that, “today we hear exactly the same thing in Moscow, and unfortunately, more and more often in some of our capitals.”
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.
“More than half are linked to the ballistic missile production chain. We are making Russia's production of the weapons it uses to kill Ukrainians much more difficult, slower and more expensive,” said Kaja Kallas, on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, who formally approved this decision on Monday.
This set of sanctions, which provide for a freeze of assets in the EU and a ban on traveling there, was approved on Wednesday by the representatives of the 27 in Brussels. In detail, they concern 743 individuals and 826 entities, all linked to the Russian military-industrial complex, according to diplomats in Brussels.
This will bring to nearly 4,600 the total number of people and entities sanctioned by the EU due to the war led by the Kremlin in Ukraine. “I deeply regret it. I hope that this will not come into force, because we must increase pressure on Russia and strengthen support for Ukraine,” Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard declared in Luxembourg on Monday.
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 its 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.
