Survive and thrive: A European plan to support Ukraine in the long war against Russia

Summary:

• Russia’s war on Ukraine is likely to last many years, even if the violence may subside at times.
• To sustain Ukraine during this conflict, Europeans should draw up a four-part ‘long-war plan’.
• This plan would comprise military assistance to Ukraine in the form of a ‘security compact’; security assurances that respond to scenarios of Russian escalation; economic support, giving Ukraine access to the EU’s single market; and help to secure Ukraine’s energy supply.
• Besides its practical impact, this plan will signal Europeans’ commitment to assisting Ukraine, showing Kyiv, Moscow, and the wider global community that the EU is in it for the long haul. The long-war plan will also provide clarity to anxious publics in member states.
• Together, these proposals would protect Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and help create the long-term conditions for a resolution to the war – if and when a more constructive attitude emerges in the Kremlin.

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