Firstpost reports:

[https://www.firstpost.com/world/we-are-not-there-yet-eu-on-talks-with-putin-despite-calls-from-france-and-italy-13967987.html]

Despite recent calls from France and Italy for Europe to re-engage with Moscow, the European Union on Monday said that conditions were not yet suitable for high-level talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine.

“At some point there will have to be talks, also with President Putin, and in the meantime, a lot of work is being done. Unfortunately, we’re not seeing any signs by President Putin to be engaging,” AFP quoted EU spokeswoman Paula Pinho as saying.

Translation: The EU has been sidelined because Putin is only engaging with the USA and not with a bunch of war-mongers.

The EU has shown no sign of wanting to 'engage' with Putin so why should he bother engaging with them?

This kind of nonsense diplomacy is why the Ukraine crisis started in the first place.

But the EU leadership are a bunch of woodentops so what can you expect?