The European Commission plans to maintain sanctions pressure on Russia, preparing an 18th package of EU sanctions against Russia after the approval of the 17th package.

The European Union expects that the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin will be ready to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday 15 May, and is also prepared to impose additional sanctions on Russia if a ceasefire is not achieved.

The European Union may impose sanctions on the consortium operating the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline if Russia fails to start a ceasefire as planned.

The European Union continues to insist that any peace talks can only begin after Russia unconditionally agrees to cease fire.

Ukraine and the European Union have established a Ukraine–EU Task Force to expand cooperation between European and Ukrainian defence industries.

The European Union will allocate an additional €900 million from extraordinary revenues generated by frozen Russian assets for the purchase of weapons and ammunition for Ukraine, increasing the EU’s recent total support for Ukraine’s defence industry to €3.3 billion.

Hungary is not opposing the adoption of the European Union’s 17th sanctions package against Russia and it could be officially approved as early as May 2025.

The European Parliament has extended the trade visa-free regime – the suspension of quotas and customs duties – for Ukrainian iron and steel for three years, in view of the fact that the general autonomous trade measures for Ukrainian exports to the EU are set to expire on 6 June 2025.

Brussels plans to introduce transitional measures to protect Ukrainian exporters if the European Commission and Kyiv fail to amend the EU-Ukraine free trade agreement by 5 June, when the autonomous trade measures, known as the trade visa-free regime, expire.

The European Commission is working to open all negotiation clusters during Ukraine's EU accession talks in 2025.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has stated that fast-tracking Ukraine's accession to the European Union could serve as the strongest security guarantee for the country once peace is achieved.

The European Union will completely halt Russian gas imports by the end of 2027, minimise Russian oil imports, intensify efforts against Russia's shadow fleet and significantly reduce dependence on Russia in the nuclear sector, including limiting enriched uranium supplies.

On 8 May, the European Parliament will vote on introducing a preferential export regime for steel and iron from Ukraine after the general autonomous trade preferences for Ukrainian exports to the EU (the so-called trade visa-free regime) expire on 6 June 2025.

The European Commission does not plan to extend the regime of Autonomous Trade Measures (ATM) for Ukraine (the so-called trade visa-free regime), which is set to expire on 5 June, but it will ensure a smooth transition to a new framework in which all trade liberalisation conditions will be formalised under the EU-Ukraine Free Trade Agreement.