EU Council President wants to prepare talks with Russia

Costa also warned against going it alone in contacts with Russia. At present, Trump's efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine should not be disrupted, said the former Portuguese head of government. "For now, our main contribution is to increase the economic pressure on Russia and continue to support Ukraine by all means."

According to Costa, the increased prices for oil, gas and fuel do not change the EU's strategy. "We want to make ourselves independent of the Russian energy supply and not negotiate with Russia over the price of energy," he emphasized in an interview with the enr network, to which Deutsche Presse-Agentur also belongs.

Costa criticizes Orban and Selenskyj

Regarding the current Hungarian blockade of billions in EU financial aid for Ukraine, Costa said that the attitude of the government in Budapest was completely unacceptable. At the same time, he criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi for his threats against Hungary. "Of course we cannot accept it when someone - even in an emotional moment - addresses a head of government of a member state of the European Union in an inappropriate manner," said the EU Council President.

In the dispute over the financial aid blocked by Hungary, Selenskyj had openly threatened Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. "We hope that one person in the European Union will not block the 90 billion euros and the Ukrainian fighters will get weapons, otherwise we will give the address of this person to our guys so that they call him and talk to him in their language," said Selenskyj. The statements were seen by the government in Budapest as an attempt at intimidation and blackmail.

Orban only wants to end the blockade once the conflict over interrupted Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline has been resolved. His government accuses Ukraine of preventing the pipeline from resuming operations. The pipeline runs from Russia via Belarus and Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.