The European Union should help Ukraine achieve a lasting peace, long-term security and eventual membership into the bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said.

Speaking at the EU Ambassadors Conference in Brussels on November 6, just two days after she visited President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the EC President called on Europeans to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes,” naming three concrete goals the EU must achieve to protect the future interests of Kyiv.

“The first objective must be to continue to work for a just and lasting peace, not another frozen conflict,” she said. “No one wants peace more than the Ukrainian people.”

According to von der Leyen, Zelenskiy's ‘Peace Formula’ is the best way to achieve this. Proposed in December 2022, it is a 10-point plan that includes restoring Ukraine's territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, a special tribunal to prosecute Russian war crimes and security guarantees.

“Let me ask all of you to keep on engaging to gather more and more support for the Peace Formula from countries across the world. I know it is not easy, I know it is hard work, but in the essence, in the end, the whole world would benefit from a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. That has to be our main mission,” she said.

Secondly, the EU must help Ukraine achieve “long-term security”, von der Leyen said.

“We have to ensure a sustained military force capable of defending Ukraine now and deterring Russian aggression in the future,” she explained. “We have to ensure now that no industrial bottleneck prevents us from protecting Europe and giving our full support to Ukraine.”

Finally, in the “mid and long term,” the EU should help Kyiv’s prosperity by facilitating its entry into the European Union, the EC President believes.

“Just think about it: to make Ukraine recover – Europe is the answer; to strengthen Ukraine's democracy even further – Europe is the answer; to protect Ukraine from future interferences – Europe is the answer.”