EU should begin membership talks with Ukraine in June: Ursula von der Leyen

The European Union should begin membership talks with Ukraine in June, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday.

"Ukraine has fulfilled all the steps that we had set out, and this is why we believe the EU should begin accession talks with Ukraine already by the end of this month," Leyen told the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin.

"Ukraine has done all these reforms while fighting the war. This is so outstanding. Thank you very much for being so reliable," she said.

Ukraine applied for the EU membership in February 2022 and was granted the EU candidate status in June 2022. In December last year, the EU leaders gave the green light to open membership negotiations, but no date was set so far for the opening of the accession talks.