On the Alaska summit, Kallas said that Putin got “everything he wanted” and that would impact his interest in negotiating a peace deal.<\/p>\n
“He got such a welcoming and he wanted sanctions not to be put in place, which he also achieved.<\/p>\n
“Putin is just laughing, not stopping the killing but increasing the killing,” Kallas said. “We are forgetting that Russia has not made one single concession.”<\/p>\n
She added that the EU had put together the 19th package of sanctions to pressure the Russian leader into further discussions. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Trump on Thursday set a two-week time frame for evaluating peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.<\/p>\n
“I would say within two weeks we’re going to know one way or the other,” he said in a telephone interview with Todd Starnes, a host for right-wing media outlet Newsmax.<\/p>\n
“After that, we’ll have to maybe take a different tack,” Trump said.<\/p>\n
But Zelensky cast doubt on Putin showing willingness for a meeting with him.<\/p>\n
In comments released to reporters on Thursday, reported by the Agence France-Presse news agency, Zelensky accused Russia of avoiding the “necessity” of holding a meeting between the two countries’ leaders.<\/p>\n
“Current signals from Russia are, to be honest, indecent. They’re trying to avoid the necessity to meet. They don’t want to end this war.”<\/p>\n
He also put pressure on Western allies, saying Ukraine would like to “have an understanding of the security guarantees architecture within seven to 10 days”.<\/p>\n
“We need to understand which country will be ready to do what at each specific moment,” he added.<\/p>\n
Zelensky has criticised the significant air attack by Russia early on Thursday, saying it was behaving as if there were no global efforts to stop the war. <\/p>\n
Eleven different locations in Ukraine were hit, killing at least one and injuring more than a dozen in the western city of Lviv close to the Polish border.<\/p>\n
A number of European leaders earlier echoed EU and Ukrainian views about Putin’s unwillingness to engage with a peace deal. <\/p>\n
Finnish President Alexander Stubb said Putin was “rarely to be trusted”, and that he was sceptical about Putin eventually agreeing to a bilateral meeting with Zelensky.<\/p>\n
French President Emmanuel Macron called the Russian leader “a predator, and an ogre at our doorstep” and expressed “the greatest doubt” that he would be willing to work towards peace.<\/p>\n
Both leaders were in attendance at White House peace talks on Monday.<\/p>\n