THE President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen pledged today to provide the President of Ukraine with a “Faster start” in the country’s bid to join the European Union.
Handing over a questionnaire to Zelensky, which will be the starting point for Brussels to decide whether to accept Ukraine as a candidate, von der Leyen said: “It will not be, as usual, a matter of years but weeks to form an opinion”.
Zelensky said he would give the answers within a week.
Von der Leyen recalled the sanctions imposed on Russia on the occasion of the invasion of Ukraine and stressed: “THE Russia will fall in economic, financial and technological decline“As Ukraine moves towards a European future, that is what I see.”
The commission’s chair also said that the European Union should monitor Russia’s attempts to circumvent sanctions and, if necessary, impose tougher sanctions. In a joint press conference with Zelensky in Kyiv, he said that The EU wants to increase the price Russia pays for the attack on Ukraine.
Von der Layen shocked by Bouka mass graves: We saw the inhuman face of the Russians
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had earlier said that the deaths of civilians in the Ukrainian city of Bukhara showed the “inhuman faceOf the Russian army, while pledging to support Ukraine in the fight to defend the “borders of Europe”. Shortly afterwards, she left for Kyiv, where she was welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed Ursula von der Leyen and Josep Borrell in Kyiv 🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/Iz6i9Qee4k
– UkraineWorld (@ukraine_world) April 8, 2022
During her visit to Bouka, where investigators began exhuming bodies from a mass grave, Ursula von der Leyen was visibly shocked to see in a city where Ukrainian officials say hundreds of civilians have been killed by Russian troops.
Russia denies attacks on civilians in the invasion of Ukraine, which began six weeks ago. He denies allegations that Russian forces executed civilians in Bukhara after occupying the city, citing “monstrous counterfeiting” aimed at discrediting the Russian military.
Speaking to reporters in Bouka, The president of the commission said that the European Union would do everything possible to support Ukraine in the “necessary steps” to secure its membership in the EU – which is urgently sought by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“The unthinkable has happened here. We saw the inhuman face of Putin’s army. “We saw the recklessness and coldness with which they had taken over the city,” Ursula von der Layen told reporters in Buca.
“The whole world is mourning with the people of Bouka and they are the ones who … are defending the borders of Europe, they are defending humanity, they are defending democracy. “And for this reason, we are on their side in this important struggle,” he noted.
The images from Bukha, which was captured along with other cities in the north of the Ukrainian capital as Russian forces deployed to focus their operations in eastern Ukraine, gave new impetus to Western efforts to punish Moscow for its invasion. February 24th.
Ethical support
Hours before Ursula von der Layen arrived in Kyiv, more than 50 people were killed and many more injured in a rocket attack on a train station, which was flooded by civilians from eastern Ukraine.
The European Commission president’s trip to Kyiv was intended to provide Zelensky with moral and (some) financial support. Traveling by train from Brussels to Kyiv, he told reporters that the most important message he was carrying was that the way was open for Ukraine to join the EU.
Photographs circulating on the internet show Ursula von der Layen standing shocked wearing a bulletproof vest in front of the victims of the Russian attack, which have been placed in black bags.
For his part, European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell told reporters that the visit showed that “Ukraine has control of its territories.” “There is a government that receives visitors from abroad and one can travel to Kyiv,” Borrell said, adding that he hoped the EU would provide an additional 500m euros to Ukraine in the coming days.
Zelensky reiterated that the war is a direct attack not only on the very existence of Ukraine but also on the security of Europe as a whole.
Russia describes the attack as a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “de-Nazify” its neighbor. Prior to the invasion, Putin had described Ukraine’s turn to the West in recent years – including its ambition to join NATO – as a threat to Russia’s security.
Zelensky has called on Brussels to do more to punish Moscow, such as the embargo on oil and gas from Russia, and called on the EU to accept Ukraine as a full member.
Borrell acknowledged that sanctions on oil were “complicated” – referring to “a big elephant in the room” – and expressed concern that blocking Russian crude would cause prices to plummet, which could hurt European economies. He said the export decision was expected to be made in Brussels on Monday.
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