European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is rebuffing questions about whether an application from Ukraine for “immediate membership” of the EU will be granted as the Russian invasion intensifies.
Signing the official request last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged the bloc’s leaders to accelerate the process of making Ukrainians “equal members of Europe” in order to “prove that you are with us” in his country’s battle against Vladimir Putin’s forces. “Do prove that you will not let us go. Do prove that you are indeed Europeans and then life will win over death and light will win over darkness,” he said during an address to the European Parliament via video link. “The EU will be much stronger with us.”
