Key facts
- An EU diplomat told EUobserver there is no rationale at the moment to ease sanctions or restrictions on Russia in any sector.
- A second EU diplomat said buying Russian gas was not mentioned in two debriefings about talks with the US.
- The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the US had discussed with Russia restoring gas flows to Europe via pipelines through Ukraine.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such plans were impossible to implement right now.
- US-led Ukraine-Russia talks on ending the war are set to start on November 10 in Abu Dhabi.
The European Union neither wants nor has plans to resume purchases of Russian gas, EU diplomats told EUobserver on November 5, 2026, as European, US and Ukrainian officials met in Brussels to discuss post-war recovery in Ukraine ahead of US-Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Abu Dhabi.
"We don't see any rationale at the moment to ease sanctions or restrictions on Russia, in any sector," one EU diplomat told EUobserver, adding that in light of attacks on Ukrainian civilians and civilian infrastructure, more pressure and restrictions were needed.
The EU and Ukraine discussed economic recovery and funding requirements for Ukraine with US officials on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing unnamed sources involved in the talks, that the United States had discussed with Russia the possibility of restoring natural gas flows to Europe via pipelines running through Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, commenting on that report, said: "Frankly, the situation on the ground speaks all too clearly to the fact that those kinds of plans are impossible to implement right now."
After the Brussels talks on Wednesday, a second EU diplomat told EUobserver: "We've had two debriefings about talks with the US - buying Russian gas was not mentioned." On Thursday, Ukraine, the EU and US officials were discussing security guarantees for Ukraine, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had anticipated late on Wednesday.
Following a call with US negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Wednesday, Zelenskyy posted on X that negotiations must move forward at full throttle to bring the war to an end as quickly as possible, and that Ukraine's proposals had been given to the American side. US-led Ukraine-Russia talks on ending the war are set to start on November 10 in Abu Dhabi.