Only Kyiv has a mandate to negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine, everything else amounts to dividing up spoils, says Lithuanian MEP Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis.
He insists that direct talks between the United States and Russia in Riyadh, which currently do not include any representatives from Ukraine or the EU, are not really “peace negotiations”.
“Saying that these are ‘negotiations’ sounds strange. There are no negotiations. The only negotiating party with a mandate in this case is Ukraine, and the rest is division [of spoils],” the Social Democratic politician said on Friday.
“The US has no mandate from Ukraine in Riyadh. Today, we should certainly say that Trump should be subject to a cordon sanitaire,” the politician added.
He made the remarks at a conference held at the Lithuanian parliament, Seimas, to mark the third anniversary of the war in Ukraine.
Earlier this week, the US and Russian representatives met for talks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which was the first meeting since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv was not invited.
In the days that followed, US President Donald Trump called Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator without elections”, while the latter warned that Trump was living in a Russian disinformation bubble.
No one can demand minerals from Ukraine
Trump’s top security adviser has said that criticism from Ukraine is unacceptable and urged Kyiv to tone down its rhetoric and swiftly sign the demanded minerals agreement giving the US access to Ukraine’s vast natural resources.
“No one can force Ukraine to give up territories to the enemy and call it a reasonable compromise, no one has the right to demand exclusive rights to a country’s minerals and call it a business deal, no one has the right to demand elections in time of war and economic decline and call it a celebration of democracy,” said another Lithuanian MEP Petras Auštrevičius, a member of the liberal Renew Europe group in the European Parliament.
The recent shift in US policy towards the war in Ukraine has sparked fears that Kyiv will be forced to capitulate and that Ukraine and Europe will be excluded from the negotiations.
“Symbolically, but coincidentally, the recent geopolitical actions and Trump’s rhetoric make me feel like I felt three years ago, on February 24. When the world order seems to have suddenly collapsed, when it seems that you do not know what is going to happen tomorrow, and when it seems that you have to take responsibility for your own future,” said MEP Paulius Saudargas, a member of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament.
Hopes for EU action
In recent days, European leaders have held urgent summits to discuss response to Trump’s threats to disrupt decades of transatlantic security ties.
In a video broadcast during the conference, European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said he expected more action from the European Union to boost Ukraine’s defence potential, step up reconstruction projects and strengthen Ukraine’s EU integration.
“One thing I know is that what we have to do at the EU level needs to be done several times faster and stronger, especially when it comes to both the development of European defence capabilities and support to Ukraine. In Ukraine, a secure peace will only come about when Ukraine’s power has been strengthened enough to convince Putin that his dreams of crushing it are futile,” the politician said.
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