Speaker of Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada urges EU to grant Ukraine candidate status

In his address to the European Parliament on Wednesday, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament), Ruslan Stefanchuk, called on the EU to endorse his country’s membership application.

Stefanchuk said that “Ukraine and its people need this powerful message from Europe”, adding that any other political signal would only benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin and his regime.

For her part, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola added that the European Parliament would continue actively to support Ukraine’s efforts to be granted EU candidate status. “We know how important it is to send a clear signal that Ukraine’s place is within our European family. To tell everyone that Ukraine is Europe,” she said.

Stefanchuk was also met in Strasbourg by European Council President Charles Michel. “We discussed political, financial and material assistance to Ukraine; sanctions to keep pressure on Russia; and the EU’s and Ukraine’s common future,” wrote Charles Michel on Twitter .

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