<h6><strong>Eduardo González</strong></h6> <h4><strong>Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares warned this Wednesday that the agreement between the presidents of the United States, Donald Trump, and Russia, Vladimir Putin, for a 30-day truce in attacks on energy infrastructure in Ukraine is “positive” but “very far from the peace that Spain and the Europeans want.”</strong></h4> “Talking about a ceasefire and peace with Russia seems good to us, but we are very far, very far, from the peace that Spain and our European partners want,” Albares declared during an interview on the program “Las mañanas” on Spanish National Radio (RNE). “An agreement in principle not to bomb energy infrastructure is positive, but that is far from being a ceasefire, and from a ceasefire that leads to peace,” he added. In any case, he warned, "until now we have not seen, and this demonstrates it, a true will from Putin to end the war." "We will continue to support (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky in defense of the freedom of the Ukrainian people for as long as necessary," he insisted. For her part, Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the agreement between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as "disappointing" on Wednesday and asked, in statements in the halls of Congress, "that no one forget that the true warlord is Putin." Putin and Trump held a telephone conversation on Tuesday in which they agreed to a provisional 30-day ceasefire and an immediate halt to attacks on energy infrastructure. "The leaders agreed that the path to peace will begin with a ceasefire on energy infrastructure and with technical negotiations for the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea, a comprehensive ceasefire, and a permanent peace," the White House reported in a press release. During the conversation, Trump presented Putin with the minimal agreement reached last week by the United States and Ukraine in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which includes a proposed 30-day ceasefire. The parties will meet soon in the Middle East to negotiate the details. Russia has stated that its intention is for the talks to lead to progress toward a "lasting peace," but has set as a condition for a peace agreement the "complete suspension of foreign military aid and military intelligence to Ukraine." For his part, Zelensky has stated that his government could support a US proposal to curb attacks on energy infrastructure and even stated that he wants to speak with the US president about his conversation with Putin. "The appropriate thing is for us to talk with President Trump and learn in detail what the Russians offered the Americans or what the Americans offered the Russians," he told reporters. <h5><strong>White Paper on Defense</strong></h5> Albares' statements coincide with the presentation of the White Paper on Defense, which includes the proposal for joint procurement and a strategic reserve of munitions and missiles. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, summed up the proposal in one sentence: "If you want peace, prepare for war." In this regard, the Foreign Minister warned that "Europe is not, and should not be, an aggressive power. That is not the objective." "War is already on European soil, and it is not because we wanted it, but because there is a militaristic and very aggressive country rearming in the east," he added. <h5><strong>Gaza</strong></h5> On the other hand, Albares described the end of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli bombings that have caused the deaths of more than 400 civilians as an "unacceptable tragedy." "Nothing good can come from war, from indiscriminate bombings, when we see so many civilians killed in just one day," he told RNE. In both Ukraine and Gaza, he warned, "there are those who don't want peace and those who prefer war, and I think in both cases it's very clear who wants to continue the war, who believes that war is the way to resolve differences between states and between peoples instead of using diplomacy."
