Zelenskyy, in Brussels, urges EU to grant Ukraine membership
Brussels: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that “a Ukraine that is winning” should become a European Union member, arguing the bloc wouldn’t be whole without his country being an integral part of the EU.
Zelenskky made his comments during an address to the European Parliament on a rare trip outside Ukraine, which has been trying to repel a full-scale invasion by Russia for nearly a year.
The Brussels visit came as Russia intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine amid signs that a major new offensive by Moscow was underway before the February 24 anniversary of the war. Zelenskky, who also visited the UK and France on a whirlwind European tour that started on Wednesday, will already head home with heaps of goodwill and commitments of more military aid.
He arrived to the European Parliament to rapturous applause, cheering and hoots from legislators, insisting in his plenary speech that Ukraine’s fight against Russia was one fought for the freedom of Europe as a whole.
“A Ukraine that is winning is going to be member of the European Union,” Zelenskyy said to applause, building his address around the common destiny that Ukraine and the 27-nation bloc face in confronting Russia head-on.
“Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long as we ... take care of the European way of life,” he said.
Zelenskyy added that Russia wants to destroy the European way of life, but “we will not allow that.” He held up an EU flag after his address and the entire legislature stood in sombre silence as the Ukrainian national anthem and the European anthem “Ode to Joy” were played one after the other.
Zelenskyy then headed to the urn-shaped Europa building, where the 27 EU leaders were meeting in a summit, to push those same points.
Before Zelenskyy spoke, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said allies should consider “quickly, as a next step, providing long-range systems” and fighter jets to Ukraine. Metsola said the response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine “must be proportional to the threat, and the threat is existential.”
Metsola also told him that “we have your back. We were with you then, we are with you now, we will be with you for as long as it takes.”
EU leaders were hoping to impress on Zelenskyy that the powerful bloc is steadfast in its support for Ukraine as Russia is feared to be making moves for a new offensive. The latest draft of the summit conclusions seen by The Associated Press says “the European Union will stand by Ukraine with steadfast support for as long as it takes.”
