The EU wants Ukraine to join the bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview with Euronews, according to world news agencies.
“They are one of us, and we want to be members of the EU,” said von der Leyen.
Ukraine is involved in some European processes, such as the integration of the Ukrainian market into the EU single market. We have close cooperation in energy and other areas, she said.
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However, despite support for EU membership, she has not indicated that it will be a quick process.
Her comments came a few hours after the EU for the first time in the history of the union announced the supply of weapons to Ukraine, according to Reuters.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Twitter that he had discussed issues related to EU military and financial assistance to Kyiv by telephone with the European Commission President.
I had a telephone conversation with the President of the European Commission. “We talked about concrete decisions on strengthening Ukraine’s defense capabilities, macro-financial assistance and Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” Zelensky said.
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Yesterday, Latvian President Egils Levits said the EU should grant Ukraine candidate status. Similar proposals were made by the Presidents of Poland and Lithuania, Andrzej Duda and Gitanas Nauseda.