June 18 (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressing an EU summit on Thursday, said the future of Europe was being shaped by the defence of Ukraine and the best guarantee for the future would be to grant Kyiv fast-track EU membership.
Zelenskiy, whose comments were posted in a video on X, told the summit that every democratic nation in Europe deserved to be in the EU and “Ukraine merits this because it has paid more than any other country for its right to be free, independent and…European”.
European Union ambassadors agreed last week to advance membership talks with both Ukraine and ex-Soviet Moldova with discussions beginning on the first of six “clusters” to bring legislation and standards into line with the bloc.
“The future of Europe – free, united and of course in peace – is being decided in our defence. That shows how unique our situation is,” Zelenskiy said.
He acknowledged that not all members would support an accelerated accession.
“The most important such step – I know that not everyone loves this — could be a fast-track path for Ukraine to join the EU.”
Zelenskiy also said the security of Europe depended on securing funding for Ukraine’s military, and the EU and the “coalition of willing” countries supporting it could develop the financial instruments to ensure that.
A statement issued by the European Council after the summit welcomed the beginning of accession talks for Ukraine and said it “looks forward to the opening of the other clusters, in line with the merit-based approach”.
In an audio message issued at the end of the summit and an earlier meeting of the “Ramstein” group on military assistance for Ukraine, Zelenskiy restated that Ukraine was ready for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on resolving the more than four-year-old war. But he urged Europe to remain vigilant and maintain pressure on Moscow.
“Europe has to be engaged for us to have a strong position, to commit fully on sanctions without loopholes, on confiscation without exceptions and on funding Ukraine,” he said.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; Editing by Nia Williams and Sanjeev Miglani)
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