EU, ex-Soviet leaders discuss Russia tensions

European leaders took a firm stance against Russia on Wednesday amid mounting fears it is planning an invasion of Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he was in talks with partners to prepare "new sanctions packages" if Russian "aggression" were to become more serious.

European Council President Charles Michel said he hoped there would be no further escalation, but that the European Union was ready to impose additional sanctions if needed.

"We support the territorial integrity of Ukraine," he insisted.

The comments were made as leaders from the 27-member bloc met with their counterparts from Ukraine and four other former Soviet republics and pledged to deepen political, trade, energy and cultural ties.

The EU's Eastern Partnership includes Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, boycotted the forum due to EU sanctions over reported fraud in his reelection last year a security crackdown on antigovernment protesters that followed.

The 32 countries taking part said they "are bound by our joint determination to further strengthen democracy and the rule of law in our societies," according to the text, which was released after five hours of talks in Brussels.

The EU announced that it would offer the Eastern countries a 2.3 billion-euro ($2.6 billion) economic and investment plan, which the bloc hopes will attract up to 17 billion euros ($19 billion) in public and private investments for the region.