Oliver Crook

In response to questions from Bloomberg, a spokesman for the European Commission said Ukraine's future accession to the EU is part of the discussion on a peace agreement.

Sources say the options now under consideration include providing Ukraine with the protections that come with EU accession up front, as well as immediate access to some membership rights.

At the same time, the bloc would give Ukraine a clear timeframe, as well as outline the steps it needs to take in order to advance through the formal accession procedure, which normally takes many years and requires the backing of all member states.

A draft peace plan anticipates EU membership in 2027, with Kiev receiving some benefits from membership in the interim.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, a spokesman for the European Commission said Ukraine's future accession to the EU is part of the discussion on a peace agreement.

Oliver Crook, Bloomberg Radio.

Sources say the options now under consideration include providing Ukraine with the protections that come with EU accession up front, as well as immediate access to some membership rights.

At the same time, the bloc would give Ukraine a clear time frame, as well as outline the steps it needs to take in order to advance through the formal accession procedure, which normally takes many years and requires the backing of all member states.

A draft peace plan anticipates EU membership in 2027, with Kiev receiving some benefits from membership in the interim.

In response to questions from Bloomberg, a spokesman for the European Commission said Ukraine's future accession to the EU is part of the discussion on a peace agreement.

Oliver Crook, Bloomberg Radio.

The India trade deal, this is something that Ursula von der Leyen and the European Union really want to take a victory lap on because India is notoriously one of the nations with the highest trade barriers across the world.

And what the EU is now saying is that their companies will have preferential access to that market.

So I'll give you just the top line of kind of what we can expect here.

They say that it will eliminate or reduce tariffs on 96.6% of EU goods that are exported to India.

The EU will also eliminate in return or reduce tariffs on 99.5% of goods that go into the EU.

Now that we basically have solidified those security guarantees from the United States to the Ukrainians for the post-war, but that's for the day after.

The day today is still dealing with that one fundamental issue, those territorial concessions, the Russians wanting all of the Donbass to basically be given to the Russians, despite the fact that they do not control at all.

It is very hard to see how to break through that impasse.

Now that we basically have solidified those security guarantees from the United States to the Ukrainians for the post-war, but that's for the day after.