European Union Council President Charles Michel addressed the council on Tuesday in regards to Ukraine President Zelenskyy's request to grant Ukraine EU membership. "Will have to seriously look at Ukraine's request for EU membership", he said.
Michel said a decision on Ukraine's membership will "have to be done with a clear head".
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday signed an application to join the European Union. Prior to the Russian invasion, Zelenskyy had pushed the EU to allow Ukraine to join the bloc under a special route.
"Our goal is to be with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be equal...I am sure we deserve it," he had said.
"Do prove that you are with us. Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness," he said in his address in Ukrainian as emotion gripped the parliament, reported news agency Reuters.
"The EU will be much stronger with us. Without you, Ukraine will be lonesome," Zelenskyy further said, Reuters reported.
Zelenskyy had asked for Ukraine to be admitted to the European Union as his country fights off Russian forces amid a full-scale invasion.
Meanwhile, in what he described as “a defining moment for European history,” the EU foreign policy chief in an address on Monday had said that the bloc’s 27 foreign ministers had greenlighted the unprecedented support for Ukraine and that those actions would take effect within hours, as reported by AP.
The European Union foreign ministers on Monday agreed to send 450 million euros ($500 million) in military aid to Ukraine for lethal weapons, according to Josep Borrell.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its sixth day on Tuesday, and Zelenskyy's request to join the EU comes as diplomats from Kyiv and the Kremlin have agreed to meet for talks.
The European Union agreed Sunday to close its airspace to Russian airlines, spend hundreds of millions of euros on buying weapons for Ukraine and ban some pro-Kremlin media outlets in its latest response to Russia’s invasion, EU officials said, AFP reported.
(with agency inputs)
