Denmark Wadephul urges more pressure: Putin does not want to negotiate
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has no great hopes for a quick success of the US efforts to end the war in Ukraine. "I advise us all to hold the right debates at this time," said the CDU politician on the fringes of an EU meeting in the Danish capital Copenhagen.
30.08.2025, 13:29
30.08.2025, 13:30
SDA
Russian President Vladimir Putin does not want to negotiate and is continuing his war against Ukraine, said Wadephul. For this reason, pressure must now be increased. All other issues should be discussed afterwards.
Wadephul was alluding, among other things, to the discussions on how the EU could participate in military security guarantees for Ukraine should a ceasefire agreement be reached between Kiev and Moscow at some point. There is also talk of whether soldiers from EU countries should then also train Ukrainian armed forces in the country itself.
Wadephul named the currently planned new EU sanctions package as an instrument for exerting more pressure on Putin - and in this context explicitly mentioned measures that could further reduce Russia's revenues from trade in oil and gas. He also called on partner countries to fulfill voluntary commitments to provide military and financial support to Ukraine. "Not everything that has been promised has been fulfilled by a long way," he said.
However, he once again rejected calls from countries such as Lithuania to use funds frozen in the EU from the Russian central bank to support Ukraine to a much greater extent than before. "I believe that freezing these funds already has a considerable effect," he said. The decisive factor is that Putin now comes to the negotiating table.
