European Leaders Commit to Ongoing Sanctions Against Russia
European leaders have pledged to sustain pressure on Russia through sanctions, following a summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. The leaders emphasized their intent to “continue to strengthen sanctions and broader economic measures to exert pressure on Russia’s war economy until a just and lasting peace is achieved,” reports 24brussels.
The statement was co-signed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emmanuel Macron, Finnish President Alexander Stubb, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as the prime ministers of Italy and the United Kingdom.
They conveyed their readiness to “work with President Trump and President Zelenskyy towards a trilateral summit with European support,” asserting that Moscow “cannot have a veto” on Ukraine’s possible accession to the European Union or NATO.
In a morning announcement, US President Donald Trump dismissed the prospect of an immediate ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine after his summit with Putin, indicating that a formal peace agreement would ultimately be necessary to conclude the conflict.
Although both the White House and the Kremlin identified areas of consensus during their three-hour discussions in Alaska, no significant breakthroughs were made regarding a ceasefire in the ongoing conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives and resulted in widespread devastation across Ukraine.
“A great and very successful day in Alaska!” Trump remarked on his Truth Social platform shortly after returning to Washington.
19th Russia Sanctions Package
On Saturday, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas asserted that Washington has the capability to compel Russia to engage in serious negotiations.
“But the harsh reality is that Russia has no intention of ending this war anytime soon,” she noted, pointing out that Putin left Anchorage without any pledges to cease hostilities. Kallas attributed this to “Russia’s imperialist foreign policy” and confirmed, “Europe will therefore continue to support Ukraine, including by working on a 19th Russia sanctions package.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, in a post on X, stressed the need for “unbreakable” security guarantees in any prospective peace agreement and cautioned against Russia’s “well-documented tendency to violate its own commitments.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer commended Trump’s efforts, stating they had brought the world “closer than ever before to ending Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine.”
“While progress has been made, the next step must be further talks involving Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy,” Starmer added in a statement.
Several EU officials reacted critically to the meeting, condemning Putin’s “gaslighting” tactics, though Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán praised the summit, asserting that it marked the end of antagonistic exchanges between the two largest nuclear powers. “Today the world is a safer place than it was yesterday,” Orbán declared on X.
