Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelensky, may have received his request for speedy processing of his EU membership application.
This comes after Russia began missile attacks near an airport in Lviv, a strategic Ukrainian city near the Polish border that had been mostly spared from the war’s relentless assault until recently.
In a video conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday, US President Joe Biden sought to dissuade Beijing from lending new life to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow carried on with bombardments that have taken the place of military advances.
Back story
As his country defends itself from a Russian invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky submitted an official request on February 28 to allow his country to achieve ‘immediate’ membership under a special fast-track protocol.
“We ask the European Union for Ukraine’s immediate accession via a new special procedure,” Zelensky said, speaking on his Telegram channel as fighting with Russian troops continued across the country.
“Our goal is to be together with all Europeans and, most importantly, to be on an equal footing. I’m sure that’s fair. I am sure we deserve it,” Reuters reported.
As France now has the EU Council president, Ukraine’s ambassador to the EU, Vsevolod Chentsov, handed up his country’s application to Philippe Léglise-Costa, the French ambassador to the EU.
“Application is registered. Process has been started,” Chentsov said.
What is happening
According to Kyiv Independent report, Zelensky said that European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen promised to speed up Ukraine’s accession.
“We’ll reduce the bureaucratic processes, which usually take years, to weeks and months,” he said.
According to Oleksandr Gruzevich, deputy chief of staff of Ukraine’s Ground Forces, the military is working on the third defense line around Kyiv. “The city is preparing like a fortress,” he added.
With Russia trying to regain the initiative in a stalled campaign, three missiles landed at an airport near Lviv, a city where hundreds of thousands thought they had found refuge far from Ukraine’s battlefields.
The Russian defence ministry said it was “tightening the noose” around the besieged southern port of Mariupol, where officials said more than 1,000 people may still be trapped in makeshift bomb shelters beneath a destroyed theatre.
What you should know
- China has so far been treading a careful line, abstaining in votes over U.N. resolutions condemning Russia while declining to refer to the assault as an invasion criticising the West.
- But Washington, which this week announced $800 million in new military aid to Kyiv, now says Moscow wants more from Beijing than just diplomatic cover.
- Biden, who described Putin as a “murderous dictator“, will make clear to Xi that China “will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia’s aggression”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Reuters.
- Over 1,300 civilians still stuck under Mariupol’s destroyed theatre. According to Ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova, 130 people were rescued from the Mariupol theatre destroyed by a Russian strike on March 16. The vast majority of people remain stuck under the rubble.
