EU-US mulling joint aid to Ukraine

(BRUSSELS) - The European Union is working with the United States on a plan to offer a significant aid package to Ukraine, the bloc's foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told the Wall Street Journal.

In an interview in Munich on Sunday, Ashton said that Brussels and Washington were "developing a plan -- a Ukrainian Plan, I have suggested they call it -- that looks at what do we need to do in different parts of the economy right now to make things better."

The amount had not been decided she said but "the figures won't be small because there are deficits in the budgets".

She added that the package might include "guarantees", "the prospect of investment" or simply "stability for the currency".

Weeks of protests in Ukraine have further undermined the country's already troubled economy.

The protests began late November when embattled President Viktor Yanukovych suddenly walked away from a ground-breaking political and trade deal with the EU that was years in the making, citing pressure from Russia.

He later signed a $15-billion deal with Moscow.