18:32 19.01.2023

EU supports Zelensky's peace plan – Michel

3 min read
EU supports Zelensky's peace plan – Michel

The European Union supports the Peace Plan proposed by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, European Council President Charles Michel has said

"You want an end to this war of aggression and the EU shares this goal with you. We therefore support President Zelensky's initiative on the 10-point peace plan," he said at a plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Thursday.

In a few days, an EU-Ukraine Summit will be held with the Ukrainian president. All strands of EU support to Ukraine, both in your brave resistance against Russia and on Ukraine's path towards the European Union, will be discussed, he said.

Michel recalled that in June last year, the European Commission granted Ukraine the EU candidate status.

"So the question of EU membership has been answered. Ukraine is the EU and the EU is Ukraine. And we must spare no effort to turn this promise as fast as we can into reality," the president of the European Council said.

Michel stressed that the EU is determined to continue to help Ukraine.

"So far, we have mobilized a total of EUR 11 billion in military support (via the European Peace Facility and EU Member States). In addition, we are training 15,000 soldiers (through our military training mission)," he said.

"The coming weeks and months will be decisive. You need more. More air defense systems, more long-range missiles and ammunition and, most of all, you need tanks. Right now. And we also support you internationally, beyond Ukraine's borders. We are doing everything to isolate Russia. The EU has adopted nine packages of hard-hitting sanctions and this is not the end. We are also working hard to rally the broadest international support for your country. In Africa, in Asia, China and in Latin America, in every meeting with foreign leaders, support for your country is the first issue we raise," Michel said.

The damages caused by Russia to Ukraine must be compensated and those responsible must be and will be held accountable, he said.

"We have frozen over EUR 300 billion of Russian assets. I am strongly convinced these should and will be used for Ukraine's reconstruction. Finally, all those – without exception – responsible must be and will be held accountable," he said.

"So by firing missiles at Ukraine, Russia is firing missiles at all that the European Union believes in. […] So today, I have come to Ukraine to tell you: 'We are all Ukrainians.' Since day one of Russia's attack, Europeans have understood that this is more than an attack on Ukraine. This is an attack on us all — our common European values, our European security, our common European dream," Michel said.

This is more than a war, this is a strategy of systematic destruction, to force you into submission, to force your country into a vassal state, he said.

"It is doomed to fail. And it will fail. Ukraine is unbreakable, Ukrainians are united, resilient, brave and rightfully proud. […] From day one, Russia miscalculated. The collapse of Ukraine did not happen and will not happen. The EU is more united than ever. And our transatlantic ties are closer than ever," Michel said.

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