EU backs Ukraine’s ‘European dream’

Europe sent a powerful symbol of solidarity with Ukraine yesterday, when Brussels backed Kyiv's bid for EU candidate status, even as Russia shelled frontline Ukrainian cities and cut back gas supplies to the West.

With the European Commission's backing, Ukraine could now be added to the list of countries vying for EU membership as early as next week, when member state leaders meet at their Brussels summit.

All 27 EU leaders will have to agree to the candidacy, but the heads of the European Union's biggest members -- France, Germany and Italy -- already gave their full-throated support to the idea on Thursday, on a trip to a war-torn suburb of Kyiv.

Then yesterday, the European Commission gave the executive's formal backing to the bid, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made her position clear by donning a striking jacket in Ukraine's national colours.

"We all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us for the European dream," she said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately welcomed the decision as a "first step on the EU membership path that'll certainly bring our victory closer".

He thanked von der Leyen for the commission's "historic decision" and said he expected that EU leaders would give Ukraine a "positive result" at the June 23 to 24 summit.

Russia responded to Brussels' decision with scorn, accusing the West of "manipulating" Ukraine with promises of integration.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine "is not getting a bright future, for some reason, despite the promises becoming more and more sweet and alluring".

President Putin told the St Petersburg International Economic Forum that the real interest of people in Europe are being sidelined after Ukraine moved a step closer to EU membership.

He denounced the EU and the US, adding that Russia's economy will withstand their sanctions.

Once Ukraine joins the EU candidates' list -- alongside several countries in the western Balkans -- it could still take years to meet all the formal membership requirements, even if Kyiv prevails in the war.

"Yes, Ukraine should be welcomed as a candidate country -- this is based on the understanding that good work has been done but important work also remains to be done," von der Leyen said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was back in Kyiv yesterday for a second visit in just over two months, Zelensky said, hailing Britain's "resolute" support for Ukraine.

In the meantime, the fighting continues, with Russian forces bombarding Ukrainian pockets of resistance in frontline Severodonetsk, including civilians holed up in a chemical plant in the eastern Ukrainian city.

And Moscow turned up the pressure on the Western allies, sharply reducing flows of natural gas in its pipelines to Western Europe, driving up energy prices, reports AFP.

France's network provider said it had not received any Russian gas by pipeline from Germany since June 15, and Italy's Eni said it expected Russian firm Gazprom to cut its supplies by half later yesterday.

In Severodonetsk, governor of Luhansk region Sergiy Gaiday called for a ceasefire, stating hundreds of civilians were trapped in the besieged Azot chemical plant in the city.

Ukraine claimed its forces had struck a Russian vessel bringing soldiers, weapons and ammunition to Russian-occupied Snake Island, a strategic Black Sea outpost, its first successful strike with a Western-supplied anti-ship missile.

Separately, Zelensky announced an end to the visa-free travel that Russian citizens, many of whom have Ukrainian relatives, have enjoyed since Ukraine became independent from the Soviet Union in 1991.