Zelensky: Ukraine will join the EU despite Hungary’s block
Ukraine must join the EU and is taking all necessary steps toward accession, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the Warsaw Security Forum on Monday.
Zelensky: Ukraine will join the EU
“Ukraine must join the EU, and it will,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Kyiv has fulfilled its obligations. “We are doing everything required, and it is important that Ukraine’s accession is not delayed by the national politics of this or that country … What we must avoid is any dependence on Russia,” he noted according to the Turkish Anadolu News Agency.
Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after the start of the war with Russia in February 2022. In December 2023, the European Council agreed to open negotiations on Ukraine’s accession.
Hungarian and Slovakian block
In June 2024, the European Commission gave a positive assessment of reforms in Ukraine and Moldova, leading Brussels to approve a negotiation framework for accession talks.
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However, Hungary and Slovakia have blocked the process, raising conditions such as halting strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies them with Russian energy.
Lithuania later proposed a separate negotiation plan that would bypass Budapest’s objections.
Sweden: Russia could also violate our airspace
Following Russia’s alleged airspace violations of countries along NATO’s eastern flank, Sweden could be next, said the nation’s premier on Monday according to the Turkish Anadolu News Agency.
“Russia could carry out the same airspace violations in Sweden that it has in Poland and Estonia. We have clear intelligence indicating that Russia is behind the violations in Poland and Estonia. In Denmark’s case, we do not have the same technical evidence,” Ulf Kristersson told a news conference along with the country’s foreign and defense ministers.
Addressing the recent sightings of drones at airports in Copenhagen, Denmark, following incidents in Poland and Estonia, Kristersson claimed Russia targets countries that provide the most support to Ukraine, adding: “We will support Denmark by providing radar units and military-grade drone defense systems.”
Russian airspace violations
In her remarks, Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the recent events have prompted intense activity within NATO, which maintains constant contact with the Baltic and Scandinavian countries.
Defense Minister Pal Jonson said that in the wake of the airspace violations, Sweden will support a new NATO initiative called Eastern Sentry, aimed at strengthening defense on Europe’s eastern flank.
Poland reported that on Sept. 9, Russian drones violated its airspace, prompting a joint NATO response. Russian drones were later reportedly detected in Romanian airspace. Estonia also said that its airspace was violated by Russian jets on Sept. 19, but NATO intervention halted the aircraft.
Featured image: The first official meeting of Zelensky and Orbán in 2023 – a photo shared on the prime minister’s official Facebook page.
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I doubt very seriously Ukraine will ever join the E.U. there is not likely going to be anything left of it habitable for human life. I truly feel sorry for the population of Ukraine. They did not deserve what is happening to them.
Slovakia just announced that it will back Ukraine’s entry. The EU will find ways to get around Hungary’s block. It’s in our interest to have a strong Ukraine inside the EU. The last thing we want is Russian forces further west occupying Ukraine and facing the borders of Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.