It is not enough to suspend military action on the battlefield in Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys says, adding that Russia must be stopped as an aggressor.
He made the remarks after US President Donald Trump had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday and agreed to meet to discuss possible peace in Ukraine.
“We must stop the aggression, not just end hostilities on the battlefield. Stopping aggression means not giving the aggressor anything to take away from the crimes that have already been committed,” Budrys said.
The question of responsibility for the war in Ukraine is “also key”, he said.
“Ukraine must get a lasting and secure environment, a lasting peace,” the foreign minister underlined.
The US president said he had a “long and very productive” conversation with Putin, during which they agreed to immediately start negotiations on ending Russia’s almost three-year-long large-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Trump also said his meeting with the Russian president on ending the war in Ukraine may take place in Saudi Arabia.
The two president’s conversation has sparked concerns abroad that Ukraine might not be included in negotiations over its fate, with Trump stating that Kyiv’s desire to join NATO is “impractical”.
“If we are talking about something that will be fragile and we do not even believe that it will last for more than a year or two, this is not peace or a security guarantee,” Budrys said.
According to him, Ukraine must be provided with military and economic support, and the “Russian military machine” must be weakened by further sanctions.
“We need to stop humming and hawing and we should start talking about nuclear energy companies and related individuals,” Budrys stressed, adding that “nothing is off the table right now” when it comes to peace negotiations.
“If there are any other options, we can talk about them, but if there are no other options, we do not need to take the most effective ones off the table,” he said speaking about Ukraine’s prospects to join NATO.
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