President Zelenskyy urges EU to admit Ukraine no later than June

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged the EU to admit Ukraine no later than June.

President Zelenskyy made these remarks at a joint conference with President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda and President of Poland Andrzej Duda in Vilnius, Gazeta.Ru reports.

“June is the month when it will be right to start negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” President Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president added that Europe needs such a signal for Russian President Vladimir Putin not to think that the West is weak.

Ukraine applied for EU membership on February 28, 2022.

The European Commission issued its opinion on the application for EU membership on June 17, 2022.

The European Council granted candidate status to Ukraine on June 23, 2022. It invited the European Commission to report to the Council on the fulfilment of the conditions specified in the Commission's opinion on the membership application as part of the Commission's regular enlargement package. The Council will decide on further steps once all these conditions are fully met.

At the special European Council meeting in February 2023, EU leaders acknowledged the considerable efforts that Ukraine has demonstrated towards meeting the objectives underpinning its candidate status for EU membership. The leaders also encouraged Ukraine to fulfil the conditions specified in the Commission’s opinion to advance towards future EU membership.