All four European leaders who visited Ukraine on June 16 support "immediate" EU candidate status for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Macron, speaking at a joint news conference in Kyiv alongside the leaders of Germany, Italy, and Romania, added that France would step up arms deliveries to Ukraine to help its forces fend off the Russian invasion.
The delivery will include six more powerful truck-mounted artillery guns, Macron said, adding that the leaders “are doing everything so that Ukraine alone can decide its fate.”
Macron made the trip to Ukraine with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis.
Scholz said he supports granting EU candidate status for Moldova, as well as Ukraine.
Zelenskiy has called on the European Union to offer his nation membership in the bloc through a shortened procedure, saying it would be a “powerful response” to Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
The bloc’s leaders are set to discuss the matter in Brussels on June 23-24.
Speaking at the news conference, Zelenskiy said Russia's invasion amounted to aggression against all of Europe and that the more weapons Ukraine receives from the West, the faster it will be able to liberate its occupied land.
The Ukrainian leader said he had discussed further sanctions against Russia and postwar reconstruction at the talks.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and dpa
