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Regardless of President Zelensky wanting entry fast-tracked, the bloc isn’t speaking accession but, high diplomat says
The European Union’s Excessive Consultant for International Affairs Josep Borrell stated on Monday that membership for Ukraine is at present “not on the agenda,” with the Russian offensive a extra urgent problem. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky requested the EU for Kiev’s “rapid accession.”
Talking earlier than a gathering of the bloc’s protection ministers, Borrell advised reporters that his rapid focus was to “present a solution for the approaching hours, not the approaching years.” Whereas he didn’t rule out membership, Borrell stated that offering army help to Ukraine was a extra urgent problem, describing Russia’s army assault as “an existential risk” to Europe.
Hours beforehand, Zelensky urged the union to grant the “rapid accession of Ukraine by way of a brand new particular process.” In a video tackle, Zelensky stated that “our aim is to be along with all Europeans and, most significantly, to be on an equal footing. I’m positive it’s truthful. I’m positive it’s attainable.”
On Sunday, EU Fee President Ursula von der Leyen stated that there’s a “course of with Ukraine that’s, for instance, integrating the Ukrainian market into the only market,” including “they’re considered one of us and we wish them.”
A number of EU states, amongst them Poland, Hungary, and Lithuania, have signaled their help for Ukraine’s EU accession.
Ukraine’s membership within the union, nonetheless, has prompted divisions within the nation earlier than, and helped precipitate the present battle. When democratically-elected President Viktor Yanukovych refused to signal an accession treaty with the EU in 2013, mass protests broke out and with the help of the US, Yanukovych was deposed a yr later and pro-Western chief Petro Poroshenko took his place.
Following Crimea’s rejoining of Russia by referendum, Poroshenko ordered a large army offensive towards the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. The battle in these areas, which collectively make up the Donbass, continued at low depth for eight years, till Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged their independence final week, instantly earlier than launching a large-scale army operation in Ukraine.
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