by Max Hunder
KYIV (Reuters) – President Volodimir Zelensky on Friday received the leaders of the European Union and the promise of their lasting support in Kyiv in the face of the Russian invasion, without obtaining a precise timetable for Ukraine’s accession to the community block.
The Ukrainian president, who hoped that the EU would grant Ukraine accelerated membership, used the summit to ask his allies to provide him with long-range weapons to repel Russian forces, particularly in the Bakhmout region.
“If the (delivery of weapons), especially long-range weapons, speeds up, we can not only stay in Bakhmout, but retake Donbass, which has been occupied since 2014,” Volodimir Zelensky told a conference of joint press organized after the summit.
Ukrainian soldiers have been engaged for several months in a battle of attrition against Russian forces in Bakhmout, eastern Ukraine, where intense fighting is still taking place.
“Nobody will give in Bakhmout. We will fight as long as we can. Bakhmout is our fortress”, said Volodimir Zelensky.
AIRCRAFT ALERT SIRENS
The air alert sirens sounded twice on Friday in the Ukrainian capital as this unprecedented meeting took place between Volodimir Zelensky, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council Charles Michel and about fifteen commissioners Europeans. No Russian missile fire was reported.
This summit comes three weeks before the first anniversary of the launch of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, which left tens of thousands dead, millions displaced and caused a food and energy crisis. world.
Discussions focused in particular on sending additional arms and financial aid to Ukraine, increased access for Ukrainian products to the European market and new sanctions prepared by Brussels.
However, the EU has not committed itself to granting an accelerated accession procedure to Ukraine. Kyiv applied shortly after the start of the Russian invasion.
“There is no strict timetable, but objectives must be achieved,” said Ursula von der Leyen during the press conference.
The President of the European Commission hailed Kyiv’s “extraordinary” efforts to carry out reforms as war rages in the east and south of the country.
“I am convinced that Ukraine deserves to obtain the start of negotiations on its accession to the EU this year,” Volodimir Zelensky said Thursday after having already spoken with Ursula von der Leyen and other leaders of the European Commission.
The EU, however, underlined the need for Ukraine to continue its anti-corruption measures and to reform its judicial system to protect it from political interference.
The accession process, with multiple political, economic and legal criteria, takes years anyway, even for a candidate country that is not at war.
(Edited by Reuters; French version Jean Terzian, Jean-Stéphane Brosse and Camille Raynaud, edited by Bertrand Boucey)
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