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Zelensky: 'Ukraine deserves negotiations on EU membership in 2023'

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President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he believes Ukraine deserves negotiations on European Union membership in 2023.

The EU top officials arrived in Kyiv on Feb. 2 ahead of a wartime EU-Ukraine summit scheduled on Feb. 3. A dozen members from the EU’s executive branch held a meeting with the Ukrainian government.

“We have reached very important mutual understandings that only together a strong Ukraine and a strong European Union can protect the life we value,” Zelensky said in his evening address.

Ukraine obtained EU candidate status in June after applying for membership a few days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. According to a recent Rating Group poll, 87% of Ukrainians favor the country's aspiration to join the EU.

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The Kyiv Independent news desk

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