Ukraine-EU: Volodymyr Zelensky expects “a positive result” at the next European summit

Published on: 06/18/2022 – 07:06 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was satisfied on Friday evening with a “first step on the way” to Ukraine’s accession to the EU. The European Commission earlier recommended granting the country EU candidate status. A decision which will be conditioned by the unanimous agreement of the Twenty-Seven at a European summit next week. Follow the latest developments on France 24. 5:01 a.m .: Volodymyr Zelensky expects “a positive result” at the next European summit concerning Ukraine’s accession to the EU President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed, in his video intervention on Friday evening, Brussels’ support for Ukraine’s EU candidate status, “positive news” for the country as the key eastern town of Severodonetsk is shelled by Russian forces. The European Commission has recommended on Friday to grant Ukraine EU candidate status. His opinion will be discussed next Thursday and Friday at a European summit, where the 27 EU leaders will have to give the green light – unanimously – for kyiv to officially obtain this status. For Volodymyr Zelensky, who “expects a positive result” at this summit, “this is the first step on the road to EU membership. Ukraine “deserves this positive news”, estimated the Ukrainian president, hailing a “historic success of all those who work for our State”. “Our rapprochement with the European Union is not only positive for us. This is the biggest contribution to the future of Europe in many years,” he added. 4:11 a.m.: Russian state television broadcasts videos of two Americans missing in Ukraine Russia’s state-run television channel posted videos on social media of two Americans who went missing last week while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military, saying they had been captured by Russian forces. United States, Joe Biden, had said earlier on Friday that he did not know the whereabouts of Alexander Drueke and Andy Huynh, two US Army veterans whose relatives have lost contact. Missing Americans – including a third identified as a former Marine captain – believed to be among an unknown number of mostly military veterans who have joined other foreigners to volunteer alongside Ukrainian troops 8:35 p.m.: Kazakhstan says no not recognize the separatist republics of Donbass The President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, recalled that his country does not recognize the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, territories in eastern Ukraine under Russian control. “If the right self-determination was effectively applied to the entire planet, then there would not be 193 states within the UN, but more than 500 or 600. It would be chaos,” he said. at the Economic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia.”For this reason, we do not recognize Taiwan, Kosovo, South Ossetia, or Abkhazia. Obviously, this principle will also be applied to the ‘quasi-state’ territories which, in our view, are Luhansk and Donetsk”, he explained in the presence of Vladimir Putin. Remaining close to Moscow, Kazakhstan nevertheless intends to subtly distance itself from its neighbor since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With AFP