The European Union will never be able to play a classic mediator role in efforts to end Russia's war on Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Thursday.
The EU clearly wanted to help Ukraine in the negotiations, Kallas told journalists after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Cypriot port city of Limassol.
But Europe could never be a neutral mediator between Russia and Ukraine, she added, since the bloc stood by Ukraine's side and was also defending its own security interests.
Kallas's comments come against the backdrop of a debate over whether the EU should play a greater role in diplomatic efforts to end the Ukraine war, given the lack of progress so far in US President Donald Trump's peace initiative.
Some EU member states, including Austria, have called for the appointment of an EU chief negotiator.
Others, such as Germany - and Kallas herself - are opposed to the idea and first want to clarify strategy issues. The former Estonian prime minister also stressed that all EU efforts must complement those of Washington.
"We are not coming in instead of the United States," she said.
