BRUSSELS, Jan 11 (Reuters) – It is now up to Russia to show it is interested in peace, after Kyiv and its allies agreed on a peace plan and security guarantees that would take effect following a ceasefire, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said.
Speaking to reporters, she said the peace plan was the 20-point proposal that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy discussed with U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of last year.
She added that, alongside the plan, there were substantial, robust, and well-defined security guarantees for Kyiv from the United States and Europe.
“Now, Russia has to show that they are interested in peace,” von der Leyen said.
She said the security guarantees would rely first on Ukraine’s armed forces, which she said were well-trained and battle-experienced. It would be the task of the Europeans to make sure the Ukrainian army is also well equipped, she said.
The second line of defence would be the so-called Coalition of the Willing — 35 states including most EU countries as well as Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Turkey.
“Here it is very good that the Americans are involved, specifically in the verification and the monitoring, but also with a backstop,” von der Leyen said.
She said that the EU was working on plans to ensure Ukraine’s economic prosperity after a ceasefire, with ideas to be spelled out in a forthcoming “prosperity paper”. The document would set out measures for the short-term and over the next decade to boost Ukraine’s economy and support its recovery.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski; Editing by Ros Russell)
