EU accession must wait, Zelensky told

Irreplaceable role

Scholz indicated days ago that "at the moment, Europe's supply of energy for heat generation, mobility, power supply and industry cannot be secured in any other way".

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that "there will be no sanctions covering oil and gas, which means that Hungary's energy supply is guaranteed for the next period".

While von der Leyen had proposed 2027 as a firm end date, EU leaders at the summit did not commit to an exact date, and only asked the European Commission to come up with a plan in May.

Zelensky on Friday expressed his disappointment with the EU, saying it should "do more" for Ukraine.

Von der Leyen said on Friday that from the following day the EU would start imposing sanctions on Russia, including banning the exports of any EU luxury goods to it and banning imports of key goods in the iron and steel sector from it.

On Saturday, Macron and Scholz held a joint phone call with Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

Ding Chun, director of the Center for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said France and Germany have not stopped their mediation.

"Germany and France are clear that they cannot totally follow the actions taken by the US and the United Kingdom," Ding said, adding that both the US and the UK are not adjacent to Ukraine.

Scholz and Macron know well that Russia is not going to move anywhere, and totally cornering Putin without offering an off-ramp is bad for them and Europe, Ding said.

"German and French leaders want to resolve the conflict as soon as possible because the longer it lasts, the more costly it is for them."

He described Scholz and Macron as rational leaders despite some public pressure for more radical actions.

Lai Suetyi, associate professor in the Center for European Studies at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, said: "It's nice to see more EU member states being pragmatic regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU. The painful process of integrating the new members from the 2004 big-bang enlargement has been felt strongly in recent years."

Fast-track admission would be "romantic" but "very painful" for the EU, she said.

"The Versailles summit rejected such romantic expectations of the EU and showed that the majority of EU leaders choose to be pragmatic."

On the inconclusive results of cutting off Russian energy, Lai said the summit showed that "many of the EU member states are cautious on the price they would bear in aiding Ukraine".