European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic said Friday that EU ministers confirmed a "clear signal of European perspective" for Ukraine.
Sefcovic spoke at a news conference in Arles, France following an informal meeting of ministers in charge of EU affairs.
The ministers discussed Ukraine's EU candidacy that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy officially submitted Sunday, among other topics.
Sefcovic said Ukraine's request "cannot fall on deaf ears" since the country "very clearly has proven again and again and on every single day during these testing times that its heart beats in time with our cherished European values."
"This question deserves our strategic attention with a clear signal that Ukraine belongs with us," he said, acknowledging that every country has to meet a certain criteria through the accession process.
"These people are one of us, and we want them in," said Sefcovic, adding that he was pleased "to hear around the table strong calls to give Ukrainians a clear signal of European perspective" and help to achieve that goal.
Since Russia's war on Ukraine began Feb. 24, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.
In an open letter, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Romania expressed support for Ukraine's swift candidacy, and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also voiced support for Ukraine's EU accession.
The European Parliament adopted a resolution Tuesday that urges EU institutions to grant EU candidate status to Ukraine and encouraged the bloc to speed up Ukraine's integration into to EU single market.
But some member states, including France, Germany and the Netherlands, said Ukraine has to strengthen the rule of law and crackdown on corruption before joining the EU.
