'Must not fall into Russia's trap': EU's Kallas warns Europe over Ukraine peace talks

European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Friday warned that Europe must not fall into Russia's "traps" as it prepares to join negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, insisting that securing a ceasefire must remain the immediate priority.According to AFP, speaking to reporters ahead of an EU summit in Dublin, Kallas cautioned against allowing discussions to shift towards Moscow's demands over Europe's security arrangements before the fighting stops."First we need a ceasefire. If we start to talk about what Russia is asking regarding the security architecture, we actually walk into the traps that Russia is setting us, which is that we divert the attention away from that there is no ceasefire," she said.Her remarks came a day after US special envoy Steve Witkoff indicated that European representatives would be included in the next round of Ukraine peace negotiations following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Thursday.Putin said Russia had never opposed dialogue with European countries, arguing that European governments had themselves broken off direct engagement with Moscow. However, he warned that any foreign troops deployed in Ukraine after a peace agreement would be considered legitimate targets by Russia.The latest diplomatic developments followed two days of US-mediated talks between Russian and Ukrainian delegations in Abu Dhabi.The discussions marked the first direct negotiations between the two sides in nine months and resulted in progress on a prisoner exchange, but failed to resolve major differences over territorial issues and a possible ceasefire.