President of the European Council António Costa stated that the European Union has adopted two important decisions to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and the next step should be the opening of the first negotiation cluster regarding Ukraine's accession to the EU. He made this statement during a joint address with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as reported by UNN.
According to Costa, the first step was to strengthen Ukraine's ability to defend itself against Russian aggression.
Today, we took two very important steps towards achieving a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. The first is strengthening Ukrainian forces and their ability to continue fighting and defending against the Russian invasion.
Another decision, according to the President of the European Council, was to increase pressure on Moscow.
The second step is to increase our pressure on Russia to make it take peace talks seriously and genuinely participate in them.
At the same time, he emphasized that the EU is already preparing for the next stage of cooperation with Ukraine.
Now it's time to look ahead and prepare the next step. And the next step is the opening of the first cluster of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union.
Costa added that the European Union has already fulfilled its previous obligations to Ukraine and is ready to move forward.
We have taken these two steps and will take the next one
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