EU accuses Putin of undermining peace talks after deadly attacks in Kiev

2025-08-29 22:47:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

European leaders have accused Vladimir Putin of undermining peace talks after Russian missile attacks on Kiev this week killed at least 23 people and damaged diplomatic buildings, including the offices of the EU and the British Council.

A day of mourning was held in Kiev on Friday, following a Russian air strike the previous day that killed 23 people, including at least four children. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said eight people were still missing and 53 were injured. "When instead of diplomacy, Russia chooses ballistics... the world must respond accordingly," he said, urging Western allies to impose further sanctions.

Further, the Ukrainian leader said that Russia was massing a force of 100,000 troops near the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk.

"There is a gathering and concentration of the enemy there. Up to 100,000 - that's what we have until the morning. They are preparing for offensive actions," Zelenskyy said.

The European High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, responding to the attacks on Kiev, in a statement accused Russia of disregarding international law and undermining peace efforts.

"Deliberate attacks against civilians and non-military targets are war crimes. These crimes only reinforce our resolve and determination to support Ukraine and its people in their defense against Russia and in their efforts for a comprehensive, just and lasting peace," Kallas said.

The statement was supported by the UK and all EU member states except Hungary, which is led by Putin ally Viktor Orbán, who has long denigrated Ukraine and tried to block EU aid to the country. The latest attacks in the Ukrainian capital were the deadliest since Donald Trump met Putin in Alaska for a never-ending summit, where he rolled out the red carpet for the Russian leader, who has been indicted for war crimes.

Trump has hinted that he wants a bilateral meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, but while the Ukrainian leader has indicated his willingness, the Kremlin has held back. French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin would have “played” Trump if he had refused to meet with Zelenskyy. After Macron hosted German leader Friedrich Merz in the south of France, France and Germany pledged to increase air defenses over Ukraine. In a joint statement, the EU’s top leaders said: “Despite intensive international diplomatic efforts, Russia shows no intention of ending its aggressive war against Ukraine.” Kallas said the latest attacks showed “that Putin is simply making a mockery of any kind of peace effort that is being made. So what we need to do is increase the pressure on Russia and that is really what they understand.”

After the deadly attack in the early hours of Thursday morning, the EU has vowed to introduce a further round of sanctions against Russia – the 19th since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022 – increase military aid to Ukraine and discuss the seizure of 210 billion euros in Russian assets frozen in the bloc. Lithuania’s defence minister, Dovila Šakali?, said hopes for peace negotiations were “naive to say the least” and that Putin was “buying time cheaply to kill more people”. She praised the efforts to secure peace, saying “nobody had thought of anything better than what Washington is doing”. Colm McGivern, the director of the British Council in Ukraine, said Thursday’s air strikes had injured a security guard and rendered the cultural organisation’s headquarters in Kiev “unusable”.

While there is no evidence that the council was deliberately targeted, McGivern said, “what I do know is that Russia has repeatedly targeted educational and cultural infrastructure in Ukraine.” A neighboring building in the city center was hit at 5:40 a.m. and the blast wave shattered the British Council’s windows, destroyed ceilings and computers, the director said.

McGivern said the unit’s 120 staff, 119 of whom are Ukrainian, had pledged to continue the British Council’s cultural activities. “It was another night where Ukraine has been subjected to a barbaric attack,” McGivern said. “There is a palpable level of anger and colleagues are more determined than ever to do everything they can, to act on the things they can control, which is to strengthen the relationship with the United Kingdom.” EU defence ministers, meeting in Copenhagen, discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, amid US pressure on European allies to take on more responsibility for the continent’s security. Kallas wants to reorganise an EU troop training mission so that Ukrainian soldiers can receive guidance inside Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. The EU has said about 80,000 Ukrainian troops have taken part in the training programme since 2022.

The recent Russian attacks have intensified calls to use Russia's frozen assets in Europe as a means of influencing Putin and helping Ukraine defend itself. The EU has an agreement to use windfall profits from Russian assets for Ukraine, but has been reluctant to seize the capital, which is mostly held at Euroclear in Belgium, for fear of undermining investor confidence in eurozone financial institutions.

EU foreign ministers will discuss the use of frozen Russian assets in a separate meeting with Kallas on Saturday. After Thursday’s attacks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU was “advancing work on frozen Russian assets to contribute to the defense and reconstruction of Ukraine.” A spokeswoman later said she was referring to the use of the proceeds, which have generated 9 billion euros in funding for Ukraine by 2025, instead of the assets./ CNA, translated by The Guardian