As the United States announced it was sending Kyiv more high-precision rocket systems, European Union leaders on Thursday gave Ukraine and Moldova candidate status in a powerful show of support against Russia’s incursion.
The West’s most recent efforts to support Ukraine occurred as Russia drew closer to important cities in the troubled east of the country and increased global anxiety with export bans on grain and gas.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the EU decision on his country and Moldova as ‘a unique and historic moment’, although the two former Soviet republics face a long path before joining the bloc and its benefits of free movement and a common market.
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‘Ukraine’s future is within the EU,’ said Zelensky, who had been working the phones for weeks.
‘We will win, rebuild, enter the EU and then will rest. Or probably we will not rest.’
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the decision by EU leaders sent a ‘very strong signal’ to Russia that Europeans support the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin had declared Ukraine to be part of Moscow’s sphere and insisted he was acting due to attempts to bring the country into NATO, the Western alliance that comes with security guarantees.
European powers before the invasion had distanced themselves from US support for Ukraine’s NATO aspirations and EU membership is at least years away.
Ukraine and Moldova will have to go through protracted negotiations and the European Union has laid out steps that Kyiv must take even before that, including bolstering the rule of law and fighting corruption.
The White House announced that it was sending another $450 million in fresh weapons to Ukraine including new High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems, which have been at the top of Kyiv’s wish list.
The so-called Himars system can simultaneously launch multiple-precision missiles at an extended range.
An initial four units have already been delivered, with Ukrainian soldiers being trained to operate the equipment, after President Joe Biden’s administration said Kyiv had offered assurances it would not fire into Russia.