Zelensky: Best way to guarantee Europe’s future would be fast-track EU membership for Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told an EU summit on Thursday the future of Europe was being shaped by the defense of Ukraine and the best security guarantee for the bloc’s future would be to grant Kyiv fast-track membership.
Zelensky said he told member states that Ukraine wanted the war against Russia to be over by the end of the year and urged them to help Kyiv prepare for another winter with air defense missiles and fuel.
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,” Zelensky said in excerpts of his address posted on X.
“The future of Europe – free, united and of course in peace – is being decided in our defense. That shows how unique our situation is.”
Hours earlier, Ukrainian air strikes struck targets deep inside Russia, including an oil refinery in Moscow, the latest long-range attacks in a campaign Zelensky highlighted as proof of Ukraine’s capabilities in meetings with US President Donald Trump and other G7 leaders in France this week.
In his message to the EU leaders, he acknowledged that not all members would support an accelerated accession, with Hungary demanding the removal of such language from an European Council statement released after the summit.
“The most important such step — I know that not everyone loves this — could be a fast-track path for Ukraine to join the EU,” Zelensky said.
EU ambassadors agreed last week to advance membership talks with Ukraine and ex-Soviet Moldova, with discussions beginning on the first of six legal and policy “clusters” to bring legislation and standards into line with the bloc.
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.”
But Hungary managed to remove a reference to accelerating accession for Ukraine from the statement, Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on X.
“It wasn’t easy,” he wrote.
