"Supporting Ukraine is in Europe's own interest," von der Leyen states in written comments after her visit to Kyiv on Monday.
"Weakness in our response will only lead to more wars on the European continent and elsewhere. Therefore, I support President Trump's initiative for Ukraine for a lasting peace agreement with security guarantees also backed by the USA," von der Leyen writes.
According to her, the EU's strategy should now focus on increasing its military and economic support to Ukraine, putting pressure on Russia, and gathering support from other parts of the world as well.
She also sees ahead an "enormous increase" in EU countries' defense expenditures, in three steps. First, member states should be given the opportunity to invest in defense without being penalized by the EU's tough budget rules. Step two is joint investments in, for example, air defense and drones, while step three will be to increase access to private financing.
