Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković stated on Tuesday in Cairo that U.S. peace initiatives for Ukraine are "relatively swift but not sufficiently detailed," emphasizing that Kyiv and the European Union should be involved in peace negotiations following the first U.S.-Russia meeting in Riyadh.
"I believe we need to wait a bit longer for all U.S. initiatives to become more substantial and well-developed," Plenković told reporters in Cairo.
On Tuesday, the United States and Russia announced they had agreed to continue efforts to end the war in Ukraine after their meeting in the Saudi capital, which did not include Ukrainian representatives.
Plenković reiterated that Republican U.S. President Donald Trump perceives Russia’s aggression against Ukraine—first in Crimea in 2014 and then the full-scale war since February 2022—as events that occurred under the Democratic administrations of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
"He sees himself as a president of peace or a peacemaker. That’s why I am certain these initiatives, while relatively swift, may not yet be sufficiently structured as a comprehensive peace plan. They are meant to position him as the one who facilitated a ceasefire and ended the killing of people. From his perspective, that is the key priority right now," Plenković said.
He stressed that Kyiv and the European Union must be directly involved in negotiations regarding Ukraine’s future.
"Our stance is clear. We all support an end to the killing. (…) But if, following an initial ceasefire, no serious peace plan emerges—one that respects Ukraine, its sovereignty, and territorial integrity, and provides something more concrete and beneficial than Minsk 1 and Minsk 2 while resembling our peaceful reintegration process—then that would be a good plan that delivers a just peace for Ukraine, with Ukraine and the European Union at the table," Plenković stated.
The Prime Minister underscored the need for a "comprehensive and structured plan" to ensure that those with territorial ambitions do not assume they can act without consequences.
