Cyprus's president meets Zelensky in Kyiv as Nicosia prepares to chair EU Council

Nikos Christodoulides, the president of Cyprus, met with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Dec. 4 as part of his official visit to Kyiv.

Christodoulides's visit comes as Cyprus is set to assume the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in January, with Nicosia viewing enlargement as a "key priority," according to Cypriot government spokesperson Konstantinos Letymbiotis.

In a post on X, Christodoulides affirmed that "Europe stands firmly with Ukraine" and that "Ukraine will be a top priority of the Cyprus Presidency," noting that the two leaders discussed a "roadmap for progress in Ukraine’s accession negotiations and the opening of clusters."

As part of the visit, Christodoulides and Zelensky were said to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties and peace efforts in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian president later said that he and his Cypriot counterpart talked about the "situation in Ukraine" and their "shared European agenda."

"We expect the coming months to bring more progress in Ukraine’s path toward the European Union, and Cyprus’s Presidency can become significant in terms of opening clusters for Ukraine and enabling other necessary decisions," Zelensky said on X.

Cyprus will take over the sixth-month EU chairmanship after Denmark, Kyiv's close partner that sought to advance the opening of Ukraine's negotiations clusters but failed to make headway due to Hungary's opposition.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, widely seen as the most Kremlin-friendly leader in the EU, who often obstructs assistance to Kyiv, alleged that Ukraine's joining the bloc would lead to "catastrophic consequences."

Christodoulides and Zelensky previously met at the seventh summit of the European Political Community in Copenhagen on Oct. 2, where they discussed defense cooperation and joint infrastructure projects.

Since the outbreak of the full-scale war, Cyprus has provided financial, security, and humanitarian support to Ukraine, including through EU frameworks.

Christodoulides also underscored the shared experience with "the devastation of invasion and occupation," in apparent reference to Turkish military occupation of the northern part of Cyprus — a territory internationally recognized as Cypriot soil but de facto comprising a self-declared state recognized only by Ankara.

At the same time, Cyprus has been criticized as a gateway for Russian money flowing to the EU and a tax haven for Russian oligarchs.

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