Ukraine’s European allies threaten Nord Stream 2 sanctions to pressure Kremlin

Kyiv’s European allies threatened new sanctions against Russia, including a permanent block on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, if the Kremlin doesn’t agree to Donald Trump’s 30-day ceasefire.

Coalition of the willing: Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Volodymyr Zelensky, Donald Tusk and Keir Starmer. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP

Kyiv’s European allies threatened new sanctions against Russia, including a permanent block on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that connects Russia to Germany, if the Kremlin doesn’t agree to President Donald Trump’s 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine.

At a summit of European leaders in Kyiv on Saturday, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen also said the bloc would double the number of vessels on a blacklist for carrying Russian oil.

Britain took a similar step this past week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Moscow that Russia was ready for direct talks with Ukraine as early as next week in Istanbul, according to Russian state news services. In a sign he would be taking a tough stance, he said the negotiations would be a resumption of talks broken off at the end of 2022, when Moscow pushed for sweeping concessions by Kyiv.

“We propose to begin without delay next Thursday, May 15, in Istanbul, where they were held earlier and where they were interrupted,” Putin said.

But French President Emmanuel Macron said Putin’s proposal is “not enough”.

President Vladimir Putin’s proposal for direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, after Kyiv and its European allies called for a 30-day ceasefire, is “not enough”, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday.

“An unconditional ceasefire is not preceded by negotiations, by definition,” Macron told reporters as he stepped off a train in the Polish city of Przemysl on his return from a trip to Ukraine, adding that Putin was “looking for a way out, but he still wants to buy time”.

Leaders in Europe are hoping to capitalise on Mr Trump’s warning on Thursday that Washington would impose sanctions on whichever side of the three-year conflict didn’t stop the fighting for 30 days. The Trump administration hopes the ceasefire, which it says should be unconditional, can lead to a lasting truce and help build a durable peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.

The Kremlin has raised the issue of reviving Nord Stream in talks with the Trump administration, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, as part of discussions on improving economic ties between Moscow and Washington. EU sanctions would close off any such effort at restoring the flow of gas through it.

European officials want the Trump administration to tighten the screws against Russia to get Moscow to end the war that it started in 2022. On Saturday, the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Poland and the EU travelled to Kyiv to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree to a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace,” the leaders said.

Nord Stream 2, a totemic infrastructure project built despite the Kremlin’s seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, symbolised Germany’s deepening economic relationship with Russia. The project was deeply opposed by Ukraine, many Eastern European countries and the first Trump administration, which sought to throttle it with sanctions, warning it was making Germany dependent on Russia.

The pipeline was completed in 2021, but never came online because Germany put on hold the certification of the project just before Russia invaded Ukraine. In a co-ordinated move, the Biden administration sanctioned the company behind it hours later.

EU officials said Ms von der Leyen discussed the idea of the bloc sanctioning Nord Stream 2 with Germany’s new Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, when he visited Brussels on Friday. The move would need the backing of all the bloc’s member states. It would come separately from the newly proposed EU sanctions package, meaning it could take effect if Russia refuses or violates a ceasefire.

France's President Emmanuel Macron and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky. Picture: Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/AFP

Mr Zelensky said after meeting the European leaders that Ukraine was ready for a 30-day ceasefire starting on May 12. “The ceasefire must last 30 days to give diplomacy a real chance,” he said, warning that any Russian attempt to condition a ceasefire would be “a sign of an intent to prolong the war”.

Russia has said it might accept a month-long ceasefire but it needs the West to stop sending weapons to Ukraine. Moscow has repeatedly refused serious peace efforts backed by the US and agreed to by Ukraine, until the “root causes” of the conflict are resolved – Russian shorthand for attempts to integrate Ukraine with the West.

While EU officials say they will forge ahead with the energy ban regardless of a peace deal, there has been speculation in recent months that the bloc could ease the prohibition if Russia accepted a fair peace deal.

Europe was Russia’s major energy export market before its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Flagging energy exports and a fall in the price of oil have forced Russia to triple its budget deficit target.

Meanwhile, Kyiv on Sunday said that Moscow had launched more than 100 drones into Ukraine at night, shortly after a Russian 72-hour ceasefire – which both sides said was not properly observed – had ended at midnight.

“On the night of May 11 (from 2am on May 11), the enemy attacked with 108 Shahed attack drones and various types of imitator drones,” Kyiv’s air force said, adding that it had downed 60 of them.

The Wall Street Journal