EU unity on Ukraine sanctions frays as Costa's secret Kremlin calls split leaders

Sanctions unity with a new Hungarian partner

The EU summit in Brussels delivered a rare moment of full consensus on Ukraine. Member states, now including Hungary under new Prime Minister Peter Magyar after Viktor Orbán's election defeat, agreed to roll over existing Russia sanctions for another year and passed joint conclusions on Ukraine for the first time since December 2024. Friedrich Merz told reporters the battlefield dynamic had shifted in Kyiv's favour, altering the entire course of the war.

Costa's telephone diplomacy stokes fury

That harmony evaporated when it emerged that Council President António Costa's cabinet had opened an uncoordinated diplomatic channel to Moscow. His chief of staff, Pedro Lourtie, placed two calls to Russian officials (reportedly Vladimir Putin's foreign-policy adviser Yuri Ushakov) in preceding days, framing the move as a technical exercise to prepare for future talks.

We must be able to convey our own messages directly to Russia. We cannot rely only on others to interpret Russian messages.

Berlin and Paris push back

The German and French delegations reacted sharply. Merz described the initiative as "uncoordinated" and "unprofessional", while French President Emmanuel Macron, who had dispatched his own envoy to Moscow in the spring, feared losing the initiative. Both leaders, alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have been working inside the E3 format to establish pre-conditions for dialogue, an effort they insisted had the explicit backing of Ukraine.

Who speaks for the European Union, that we do not have to decide today. We will decide that when actual talks come.

Smaller states back Costa

Several capitals rallied behind the Council President. Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he trusted Costa and saw no error in opening a channel. Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs argued the EU's treaty framework already designated Costa as the natural representative. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker claimed there had been no criticism of Costa at all. The divide left the EU's message muddled exactly when the Kremlin was watching.

Moscow seizes on European disarray

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed the EU as a biased interlocutor bent on Russia's defeat. The dispute also unfolded against the backdrop of the biggest drone attack on Moscow to date, which set a major refinery ablaze just 15 kilometres from the Kremlin on 18 June. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had publicly urged in mid-May that the EU obtain "a strong voice and presence" after being sidelined in earlier US-led talks. The recent US-Iran accord has raised hopes in some European capitals that diplomatic momentum could now extend to the Ukraine theatre.