Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Ukraine and its European partners should begin by testing a limited truce covering airports or seaports with Russia, arguing that Europe has the leverage to help bring peace closer through concrete, achievable steps.
“Ukraine has cards. Europe has cards. We have a strong hand. It is time to play it,” Sybiha wrote on X after addressing EU foreign ministers at an informal Gymnich dinner in Limassol, Cyprus.
The minister said the shifting dynamics of the war, together with Ukraine’s asymmetric strategy, had created a moment for Europe to “step in with real strength” as a complementary effort to the main US-led diplomatic track.
He proposed starting with “precise, doable steps,” including an airport or seaport arrangement, the return of civilian detainees, the demilitarization of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, or a humanitarian corridor to occupied Oleshky in the Kherson region.
According to the foreign minister, civilians in Oleshky have been suffering for weeks without food, water and medicine.
Rather than beginning with debates over who should lead the process, Sybiha said Europe should first agree on a clear mandate that reflects “one united European voice.”
The foreign minister said Europe has tools that could produce tangible results, pointing to sanctions and frozen Russian assets as key sources of leverage.
Sybiha also urged EU member states to open all six negotiation clusters for Ukraine in June, saying Ukrainians “need and deserve this recognition.”
“Ukraine needs the EU – and the EU needs Ukraine,” he said.
He added that a “new and promising bilateral dynamic with Hungary” had opened a window of opportunity that Ukraine and the EU “cannot afford to miss.”
Hungary has repeatedly slowed or blocked parts of Ukraine’s EU integration process, making Budapest’s position one of the main obstacles to Kyiv’s accession path.
Sybiha also thanked EU colleagues for standing firm in the face of Russian threats against foreign diplomats in Kyiv, saying Moscow’s intimidation tactics no longer work.
“This intimidation might have worked years ago. Not anymore,” he said.
“Europe has changed. Europe has leverage. Europe must act.”