BRUSSELS
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Thursday that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East are interconnected, urging the US to pressure Russia to stop Iranian attacks in the region and end the war in Ukraine.
"If America wants the war in the Middle East to stop Iran, to stop attacking them, they should also put pressure on Russia, so that they are not able to help them in this," Kallas told reporters in France ahead of a G7 foreign affairs meeting.
She argued that Russia is providing Iran with intelligence and drone support, enabling attacks on neighboring countries and US military bases.
Kallas emphasized the urgent need to end the war in Ukraine, warning that continued Russian attacks on civilians and infrastructure are escalating daily.
"The oil price hike is also giving Russia a possibility to fund this war again, which is really not good for the Ukrainians. We need to increase our bilateral support,” she said. “If we, together also with the Americans, put pressure on Russia, then we could have an end to this war, and also a sustainable peace for longer term.”
Regarding diplomatic efforts, Kallas said any solution to the Ukraine war must include clear concessions from Russia.
She added that the bloc "is worried" about the US pushing Kyiv to cede territory in negotiations, reiterating Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"We have seen this for a year already that Russia is really trying to achieve, you know, and get those territories that they haven't been able to conquer militarily in 12 years, to get those territories around the negotiation table," said Kallas.
"This is clearly a wrong approach. It is, of course, the Russian playbook of negotiations that they are demanding something that has never been theirs, and that's why we are also flagging that this is the trap that we should not walk into," she added.