Russo-Ukraine War: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has entered its 111th day.
Prague:
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged the European Union to allow his country to follow the bloc’s membership path, warning that Russia’s regional ambitions extend from Warsaw to Sofia.
In a speech in both chambers of the Czech parliament via a video link, Zelensky called for more EU sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
“Russia is not only interested in our (cities) Mariupol, Svierodonetsk, Kharkiv and Kyiv. No, its ambitions are directed at a vast area from Warsaw to Sofia,” he said without citing evidence for his claim.
“As before, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is the first step that the Russian leadership needs to take to open the way for other countries, for the conquest of other peoples.”
The European Union has adopted six rounds of sanctions against Russia, and Ukraine is seeking a seventh round to increase pressure on Russia to end the war.
The European Commission is expected to announce a decision on Ukraine’s request for candidate status this week ahead of an EU summit next week. Achieving candidate status will be an initial step in the long process of accession.
“To grant candidate status to Ukraine now has to prove that European integration is real and that European values really work and are not indicated in just a few documents,” Zelensky said.
He said that the Czech people – after the Nazi German occupation during World War II and decades of post-war Soviet domination – knew how compromise ends and what concessions to tyranny come with.
Zelensky said, “The man who wants to seize everything will never stop from taking only a part of what he wants.”
Russia did not immediately comment on his remarks. Moscow calls the war in Ukraine a special military operation against the Ukrainian military and portrays it as dangerous nationalists.