U.K. and France propose Ukraine peace plan including one-month partial ceasefire and eventual peacekeeping forces

French President Emmanuel Macron has unveiled details of a peace plan developed jointly by France and the U.K. for resolving the war in Ukraine.

In an interview with Le Figaro published Sunday, Macron outlined the plan, which proposes a one-month partial ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine that would exclude ground combat operations. “In the event of a ceasefire, it would be very difficult to monitor whether hostilities along the front line are actually being observed,” Macron explained.

He said the partial ceasefire would apply to air and naval attacks, including strikes on energy infrastructure.

The second part of the plan envisions European countries sending a peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine, but only at a later stage. “There will be no European troops on Ukrainian soil in the coming weeks. The question is how we use this time to try to achieve a ceasefire and negotiations, which will take several weeks, and then, once peace is signed, deployment [of troops],” Macron said.

During a visit to London this weekend, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was asked by journalists whether he was aware of the plan. “I’m aware of everything,” he replied.

In the same interview, Macron also stressed the need for France and other European countries to increase their defense spending. “Over the past three years, the Russians have been spending 10 percent of their GDP on defense. Therefore, we need to prepare for the future by setting a target of 3 percent or 3.5 percent of GDP. This is far from the two percent that France barely managed to reach, and which many European countries have yet to approach,” he said.