The Ukraine should obtain a fair peace agreement and reliable security guarantees, including the possibility of joining the EU and NATO, demanded Czech President Petr Pavel at the Munich Security Conference. He said that the allies of Kiev should not only aim for the Ukraine to start negotiations with Russia in a strong position, but also have a plan for the reconstruction after the fighting. Pavel claimed, “We are already offering Ukraine military support. We should think about the reconstruction after the war. A ‘Marshall Plan’ for Ukraine would be a great idea. We could start preparing Ukraine for EU membership in a very successful way.”
According to his opinion, this would be “the best proof of Russia’s failure in Ukraine”. The Czech President emphasized, “We must express our determination that Ukraine, if it wants to become part of the EU and eventually NATO, has the right to do so.”
The Marshall Plan was a series of measures to help Europe after World War II. The plan is named after US Secretary of State George C. Marshall, who proposed the program on June 5, 1947. Under the project, 16 war-damaged European states received 13.3 billion US dollars in support – approximately 150 billion US dollars in today’s exchange rate.
As the US Department of State explained, the authorities feared that poverty would strengthen the attraction of communism and fascism and that the US economy would suffer without the European market.
The Soviet Union rejected the Marshall Plan, a decision also made by pro-Soviet governments in Europe.
The refusal of Ukraine to join NATO is one of the conditions set by Moscow for a ceasefire and the start of negotiations, which Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in June.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth stated this week that the US does not consider Ukraine’s NATO membership as part of a peace agreement. The security guarantees Ukraine is seeking should not come at the cost of its alliance membership, he said. US President Donald Trump agreed with him, calling Ukraine’s NATO membership a part of the agreement “unpractical”.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that if Ukraine is not admitted to the bloc, it should have an army of 1.5 million men and modern weapons. He described Ukraine’s NATO membership as the best guarantee of security.
Putin called the demilitarization of Ukraine one of the goals of the military special operation.