Morning opening: Don’t walk into a Russian ‘trap’ on talks, EU’s chief diplomat warns
Jakub Krupa
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has warned against walking into a Russian “trap” by focusing on personalities rather than issues in potential talks to end the war in Ukraine.
Her comments came as the bloc’s foreign ministers gathered in Cyprus for informal talks to discuss what would their main asks of Russia be in any peace negotiations.
In recent days, several EU leaders opined on who could lead any potential talks with Russia, with a number of names – including that of Kallas – being floated as an option. Finland’s president Alexander Stubb was also one of the early favourites.
But speaking early morning before the talks started, Kallas conceded there is “not much happening” in the talks right now, as she cautioned against focusing on personalities:
“It’s a trap that Russia wants us to walk into, that we discuss who talks to them, and they are already picking who is suitable, who is not. Let’s not walk into that trap.
Negotiations are always a team effort. You have good cops, you have bad cops, you have a strategy [on] how you go to the table, so that is why the substance is much more important.”
Kallas insisted the EU will have to be represented in any future talks anyway, as “if you think about what Russia is interested in, lifting the sanctions, for example, it’s a European decision.”
The former Estonian prime minister also strongly criticised Russia’s repeated warnings about potential further strikes on Kyiv.
“This is what Russia does. Because it’s not really gaining ground on the battlefield, what they are doing now is really increasing the terrorist attacks, because you can’t really describe it in other ways, creating fear inside the society.
It hasn’t worked for four years, and I don’t think that it’s going to work now.”
We will hear from other ministers throughout the day, before a press conference summing up the talks in the early afternoon.
Separately, Hungary’s new prime minister, Péter Magyar, is in Brussels today.
But curiously, he begins the visit with bilateral talks with Belgium’s prime minister, Bart de Wever, and Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, and not the much-awaited talks on accessing the frozen EU funds. That’s only to come tomorrow afternoon, which could be a sign that the negotiations on how to best resolve the lengthy problem with Orbán-era reforms are still ongoing.
Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev is also in Brussels, and also talking about the EU funds and how to rescue some of them that have not yet been spent before their expiry date in August.
Elsewhere, I will keep an eye on the latest reports from this unusual May heatwave as it still continues in large parts of western Europe.
Lots for us to get on with.
It’s Thursday, 28 May 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
Key events
Nato’s Rutte hosts Bulgaria’s Radev for talks on defence, security situation
Deal ‘also on how Sweden can learn from Ukraine,’ PM Kristersson says
‘Diplomacy cannot stop Russia,’ Zelenskyy says as he confirms request to US for air defence support
‘When we support Ukraine, we support Sweden and Europe,’ Swedish PM says
Ukraine to order ‘up to 20’ Swedish fighter jets; get 16 older models as ‘assistance’, Zelenskyy confirms
Talks on relaxing post-Brexit food safety rules ‘still ongoing,’ EU says despite UK’s claims of deal
EU prepares to make first loan payments to Ukraine next month
Hungary nearing a deal with EU to unblock funds, PM Magyar says
‘Technical discussions’ between Brussels and Hungary to unblock frozen EU funds still on-going
Bulgaria’s Radev to meet EU’s von der Leyen this afternoon, Hungary’s Magyar tomorrow
Brexit rules on food exports to be scrapped, UK government says
Zelenskyy confirms plans for ‘major defence package’ deal with Sweden
Nato’s German-Netherlands Corp to take command role in Estonia, Latvia, Germany says
Russian foreign minister dismisses ‘idiotic’ demand to ‘mirror’ army restrictions in any Ukraine deal
Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Sweden for rumoured talks on air defence, fighter jets
‘We need to find someone who does not need Nobel Peace Prize,’ ministers joke about Russia negotiator
Morning opening: Don’t walk into a Russian ‘trap’ on talks, EU’s chief diplomat warns
Nato’s Rutte hosts Bulgaria’s Radev for talks on defence, security situation
Meanwhile, over in Brussels, Nato’s Mark Rutte has welcomed Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev for informal talks ahead of the upcoming Nato summit in July.
As you probably remember, there are some, erm, questions about Radev’s positions on Russia given his previous calls for “practical relations” with Moscow and the Kremlin’s warm reaction to his election win last month.
But none of that came up during their doorstep comments today.
Nato’s Rutte stressed Bulgaria’s role in “helping to defend the eastern flank of Nato,” including the Black Seam and praised Sofia’s increase in defence spending
Radev praised his host for making all efforts to keep Nato together, admitting with smile that it is “quite a challenging job.”
“Nato must have clear vision and feasible strategy, a realistic approach to the challenges we face right now,” he said.
Deal ‘also on how Sweden can learn from Ukraine,’ PM Kristersson says
Sweden’s Kristersson says the broader agreement between the two countries is “honestly, also on how Sweden can learn from Ukraine” drawing on its wartime experiences.
He explains it as follows:
“Ukraine right now has the most advanced capacity to deal with drone wars in Europe, and we are extremely eager to learn from Ukraine how to be able to handle such situations.
I think when we talk about the need for kind of air defence in a very broad sense, most people perhaps think about the fighters, and they are extremely important … but the fighters are basically a part of a far bigger system of being able to defend yourselves from very different kinds of [threats], from the most expensive and advanced long range weapons to the, honestly, the most simple ones.”
‘Diplomacy cannot stop Russia,’ Zelenskyy says as he confirms request to US for air defence support
Zelenskyy also gets asked about his letter to US president Donald Trump and the US Congress asking for help with air defence (Europe Live, Wednesday).
He says that Ukraine is “very persistent” in asking the US to move quicker.
“As of now, diplomacy cannot stop Russia. We are stopping them with our long-range [hits], and we very much ask our American partners to help us with allocating bigger numbers of anti-ballistic missiles … or [to] give Ukraine licences so that Ukraine can increase this capability on its own.”
He says that “because of the war in Iran, the supply of missiles for Patriots has become more complicated,” and Europe “must have here at home on this continent all the capabilities necessary for protection.”
Sweden’s Kristersson gets asked if he expects a hostile reaction from Russia to this deal.
He says it’s “quite obvious,” as “we know quite well what Russia thinks about the countries providing help for Ukraine, so that won’t surprise us.”
“I think all countries in our neighbourhood are very well prepared for different Russian reactions, for hybrid threats, and all these things going on, so it doesn’t really change anything in that sense.”
Zelenskyy explains that the Gripens will be helpful as Ukraine faces a mix of “many different weapons, missiles, drones, aerial bombs” used by Russia, and it struggled at times with finding effective ways of defending against some of them.
He says the Gripens – with appropriate weapons – will help to push Russian jets out and make it much more difficult for them to deploy aerial bombs.
“These bombs, this is [the] number one [reason], and, [there are] a lot of [other] things, which I can’t share with you publicly, … but this is very important. “
Zelenskyy repeatedly thanks Sweden for signing off on the deal, but throws some shade on others, too:
“It is exactly this kind of determination, the kind Sweden has shown, that can bring peace closer, and we very much wish that some of our other Ukrainian partners were equally consistent, principled, and willing to help within the limits of what they are truly capable of.”
‘When we support Ukraine, we support Sweden and Europe,’ Swedish PM says
Sweden’s Kristersson is now speaking at a press conference with Ukraine’s Zelenskyy in Uppsala.
He says he expects to complete the first delivery of older Gripen jets C/D in 2027, with new models to be delivered from 2030.
The Swedish PM makes it very clear why he goes ahead with this deal and the support package, as he says:
“When we support Ukraine, we also support Sweden and Europe, and to me and the Swedish government, no task is more important.”
Ukraine to order ‘up to 20’ Swedish fighter jets; get 16 older models as ‘assistance’, Zelenskyy confirms
We are now getting a bit more detail on the Ukraine-Sweden deal teased by Zelenskyy earlier.
He just said in a statement that the two countries agreed on “a major defence deal, in which Ukraine acquires Swedish Gripen fighter jets.”
Ukraine will order “up to 20” Gripen E/F fighter jets, spending €2.5bn from the €90bn loan issued by the EU.
Sweden will also donate 16 older generation Gripen C/D jets as “bilateral assistance.”
Separately, Sweden “presented its largest military support package to date,” which will include “long-range capabilities, ammunition, electronic warfare capabilities and support [for] innovation.”
Talks on relaxing post-Brexit food safety rules ‘still ongoing,’ EU says despite UK’s claims of deal
Interestingly, the European Commission struck a very cautious tone when asked about the UK’s claims that a deal has been reached on parts of the post-Brexit SPS rules (12:09).
The EU’s spokesperson on the bloc’s relations with the UK relations, Balazs Ujvari, said:
“On the SPS, of course there have been negotiations going on for quite a while, and to my knowledge these negotiations are still ongoing, and of course will not be commenting on them as long as they are not fully, fully completed.”
EU prepares to make first loan payments to Ukraine next month
There is also a bit more detail on the EU’s plans to pay out the first instalment of the much-awaited €90bn loan for Ukraine.
The commission expects to make the first payment in June, but “there are a couple of procedural and technical steps yet to be completed,” a spokesperson said.
For what it’s worth, Ukraine’s parliament ratified the deal on its side this morning.
