The EU must prepare for possible negotiations with Russia - Costa 0 11

For now, the EU should not interfere in U.S. President Donald Trump's efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine, Costa said in an interview with the European Newsroom news agency network.

However, if negotiations are interrupted or fail, "then we must be ready to continue efforts and try to achieve a fair and sustainable peace in Ukraine," he emphasized.

The U.S. has taken on the role of mediator between Moscow and Kyiv, but these negotiations have recently been suspended as Washington focuses on the war against Iran.

"At this point, our main contribution is to increase economic pressure on Russia" and continue supporting Ukraine by all available means, Costa stated. He emphasized that rising energy prices do not change the EU's strategy, and the union aims to become independent from Russian supplies and is not negotiating with Moscow on energy prices.

According to the President of the European Council, Hungary is currently blocking billions of euros in aid to Ukraine, which is unacceptable.

In 2022, the EU banned the import of Russian oil by sea, and since January, supplies through pipelines via Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia have effectively been blocked.

Supplies of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline have been halted since the end of January when the pipeline was damaged as a result of a Russian attack. The interruption of the Druzhba pipeline has caused political tension in relations between Kyiv and Hungary and Slovakia. Both countries accuse Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of the pipeline's operation.