Zelenskyy says Kyiv expects start of EU accession talks for Ukraine in June

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv expects the start of EU accession talks for the country in June.

“We are actively preparing the next stage of rapprochement with the European Union for June – we anticipate the adoption of the negotiating framework and the actual start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession,” Zelenskyy said in an evening video address late Thursday.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine and the Ukrainian people deserve this step to be taken, expressing that the EU needs this step also not only in political terms but because “it is the lifeblood of the European Union to be a European project that leaves no one outside the EU.”

European leaders granted Ukraine EU candidate status in June 2022 and agreed to open accession talks in December 2023.

“And I was also pleased today to hear the full support of our European friends for the Peace Summit – I am grateful to every leader who has already confirmed their participation in the Summit and is willing to help us effectively in engaging leaders,” he said.

Zelenskyy further said he personally invited his Moldovan, Czech, and Ghanaian counterparts, as well as Ireland’s prime minister, to the Global Peace Summit in Switzerland on June 15-16.

Last week, the Swiss Foreign Ministry announced that it will organize a summit on Ukraine on June 15-16 at the Burgenstock resort in the canton of Nidwalden outside the city of Lucerne, for which it has invited over 160 delegations from around the world.

The summit will include discussions on Zelenskyy's 10-point formula that was laid out at the 2022 G20 summit in Indonesia, with its final step being the signing of a peace accord. It also focuses on issues such as nuclear safety and food and energy security.