The announcement follows an agreement by EU ambassadors from last week. Officials in both Kyiv and Brussels were pushing for the June starting date before Hungary takes over from Belgium in chairing the EU.
"Now we expect our European partners to take the next step – to start the membership negotiations already this month," Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on Telegram.
Belgian Foreign Minister Hayda Lahbib's comments followed reporting by Politico earlier on May 21 that officials from the EU and Ukraine are pushing to begin accession negotiations by June 25.
According to Politico, intense diplomacy is being undertaken aimed at convincing the Hungarian government to drop their objections to Kyiv's membership to the bloc.
The European Council agreed to open accession talks with Ukraine and Moldova last December. Chisinau has moved closer to Europe over recent months amid repeated warnings that the Kremlin is attempting to carry out a destabilization campaign inside the country's borders.
In a tweet on X, Ursula von der Leyen also confirmed she would be attending the upcoming peace summit to be held on June 15-16 in Switzerland.
The EU should be able to offer a negotiating framework to begin the process of Ukraine’s ascension to the European Union in June, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said during a press briefing on April 16, as reported by the Hromadske news outlet.
The new Portuguese government is fully in support of Ukraine's EU bid, the country's foreign minister, Paulo Rangel, said on April 4, presenting it as a shift from the "ambiguous" stance of the previous administration, Euractiv reported.
The Ukrainian government believes the negotiations on the country's accession to the European Union can start in the first half of 2024, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Euractiv in an interview published on March 18.
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