President Nikos Christodoulides on Thursday said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy should be present at any future meeting between United States President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the war in Ukraine raging on.

“I believe that the president of Ukraine must be present, because the future of his country cannot be discussed without his presence,” he said upon his arrival at the day’s European Council summit in Brussels, which Zelenskiy also attended.

His comments come after Trump cancelled plans to meet Putin in Budapest and instead placed new sanctions on Russian oil companies Lukoil and Rosneft, while the European Union also unveiled a new round of economic sanctions on Russia.

“Every time I speak to Vladimir, I have good conversations and then they don’t go anywhere,” Trump said of the shelved meeting, adding that “I just felt it was the wrong time” to have another meeting after the pair had met in Alaska in August.

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Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the sanctions were a necessity, on account of “Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war”.

Zelenskiy, meanwhile, had on Thursday afternoon thanked European leaders for their new sanctions on Moscow.

“Sanctions limit Russia’s war machine, but they also put pressure on the people who influence politics: corporations, Putin’s inner circle, Russian oligarchs and the entire state system,” he said.

Key elements of the EU’s latest round of sanctions – its 19th since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 – include a full ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), which will come into effect on January 1, 2027, for long-term contracts and “within six months” for short-term contracts.

This sanction may prove to be a boon for Cyprus, which expects to be able to export its own LNG to Europe via Egypt in 2027.

European energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen described the ban on Russian LNG as “an unprecedented move that the EU makes in unity and full solidarity with Ukraine”.

“It will deal a major blow to Putin’s war machine and sustain peace efforts for Kyiv. Europe must regain its energy independence. Ukraine must prevail,” he said.

The EU has also placed a full transaction ban on Rosneft, as well as fellow large oil company Gazprom Neft, while five banks in Russia have also been added to the EU’s list of banks with which transactions are banned.

Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, said of the new sanctions package that it is now “becoming increasingly difficult for Putin to finance his war”.

“Every euro we deny Russia is one it cannot spend on war. The 19th package will not be the last,” she said.