You're reading: Poroshenko calls on EU leaders to give Ukraine prospect of EU membership

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called on the European Union to give Ukraine the prospect of EU membership.

“I am calling on the EU to admit that Ukraine, like any other
European state that respects and is ready to defend common values, can
become an EU member in the future, supporting ambitions for European
integration by the people of Ukraine. Of course, provided that all
criteria are reached,” he said, opening a plenary session of the
Ukraine-EU summit in Kyiv on April 27.

The president reiterated that Ukraine needs considerable and
consistent support from the EU in the spirit of association and
integration, as well as political and economic support as it carries out
the necessary reforms in the current difficult situation.

“EU assistance should help strengthen the faith of the people of
Ukraine in the irreversibility of the future of Ukraine in the EU and
the need to go through a process of internal reforms, which is sometimes
painful, but not super-difficult,” Poroshenko said.