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What Ukraine said on EU membership talks: ‘Would be devastating if…’
Russia-Ukraine War: The comments come as EU leaders are set to meet to decide on whether to launch membership negotiations with Kyiv.
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Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said it would be "devastating" for Kyiv and the European Union if EU leaders do not give his country green light for membership talks. The comments come as EU leaders are set to meet to decide on whether to launch membership negotiations with Kyiv and grant it 50 billion euros ($53.8 billion) of economic support.
"The mother of all decisions, the most important decision is of course the decision on opening accession talks," Dmytro Kuleba said, adding, “I cannot imagine, I don't even want to talk about the devastating consequences that will occur shall the (European) Council fail to make this decision.”
Such a decision would show that the EU is unable to follow through on historical commitments, he warned. Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is set to visit Washington this week as Kyiv relies heavily on Western financial aid.
Read more: 4 annexed Ukrainian regions might have a say in who Russia's president should be
What Viktor Orban has said on Ukraine war?
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban threatened to veto the aid and enlargement talks at the summit as his country has already watered down sanctions against Russia and vetoed a deal to grant Ukraine 18 billion euros.
The EU finds itself again seeking to win Viktor Orban's support for Ukraineas the executive European Commission is expected to unlock Budapest's access to 10 billion euros this week.
Viktor Orban demanded the bloc hold a "strategic discussion" on its support for Kyiv but Dmytro Kuleba said, “We did our homework”, pointing to reforms of the judicial and education systems demanded by the EU.
“We expect the European Union to do its homework,” the minister said.
If Hungary vetoes assigning 50 billion euros to Ukraine through the bloc's shared budget, the other EU countries could extend their contributions bilaterally to Kyiv.
