Italy's Draghi says Europe has little leverage with Russia over Ukraine

The European Union has little leverage with Russia over Ukraine, but needs to keep talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin to calm tensions, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Wednesday.

Draghi told reporters that Europe did not have a major military force of its own and said he saw little prospect of using Russian gas imports as a way of forcing Putin to back down in his confrontation with Ukraine.

"The European Union today must try as much as possible to maintain a state of engagement ... with President Putin," Draghi said, adding that he thought it was still possible to avoid "irreversible decisions".