The United States and the European Union have agreed on a need to maintain "maximum pressure" on Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, a European official said Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed global challenges like the Ukraine war, Iran, and China during their first call since the Trump administration began.

The foreign ministers of the EU member states, who met today in Brussels in the format of the EU Council, agreed to extend sanctions against Russia o

Before reupping the sanctions, Budapest wanted to wait for Trump's inauguration, then insisted Brussels push Ukraine to reopen a gas pipeline running to Central Europe.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she expected the bloc to renew its sanctions on Russia on Monday after Hungary signalled it would stop holding up the move in return for assurances about energy security.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Ukraine war, Iran and China on Tuesday in their first phone call since the Trump administration took office on 20 January.

Officials said Ms Kallas and Mr Rubio agreed on the need to maintain "maximum pressure on Moscow" over it's war on Ukraine. Read more at straitstimes.com.

When she was prime minister of Estonia, Kaja Kallas represented 1.3 million people in a tiny nation sandwiched between Russia and the Baltic Sea. Since taking up her post as European Union (EU) foreign affairs chief in late 2024,

The European Union renewed on Monday its wide-ranging sanctions on Russia over the war in Ukraine, after Hungary stopped holding up the move in return for a declaration on energy security.

The European Union will not lift sanctions against the government of Belarus's autocrat Alexander Lukashenko following the country's "sham" presidential elections, the bloc's top diplomat Kaja Kallas said on Sunday.

The sanctions up for renewal include all sector-based bans on trade as well as the measures that immobilised Russia's central bank assets. Legally, EU countries must unanimously vote to renew these restrictions every six months.