Commission president says undermining of sovereign European nation would ‘open the doors for more wars’

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The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has warned against “the unilateral carving up of a sovereign European nation”, as Europe scrambles to assert influence over a US effort to end the war in Ukraine.

Speaking to European lawmakers in Strasbourg on Wednesday, von der Leyen said Russia showed “no signs of true willingness to end the conflict” and continued to operate in a mindset unchanged since the days of Yalta – the much-criticised and misunderstood 1945 summit to settle the post-war order.