BRUSSELS, June 24(ABC): European Union leaders granted candidate status Thursday to Ukraine and Moldova in a strong show of support against Russia s invasion, as the United States said it was sending Kyiv more high-precision rocket systems.
The West s latest attempts to rally behind Ukraine came as Russia closed in on key cities in the country s embattled east and prompted growing global concerns with restrictions in gas and grain exports.
Ukraine s President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the EU decision on his country and Moldova as “a unique and historic moment”, although the two former Soviet republics face a long path before joining the bloc and its benefits of free movement and a common market.
“Ukraine s future is within the EU,” said Zelensky, who had been working the phones for weeks.
“We will win, rebuild, enter the EU and then will rest. Or probably we will not rest.”
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the decision by EU leaders sent a “very strong signal” to Russia that Europeans support the pro-Western aspirations of Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin had declared Ukraine to be part of Moscow s sphere and insisted he was acting due to attempts to bring the country into NATO, the Western alliance that comes with security guarantees.
European powers before the invasion had distanced themselves from US support for Ukraine s NATO aspirations and EU membership is at least years away.
Ukraine and Moldova will have to go through protracted negotiations and the European Union has laid out steps that Kyiv must take even before that, including bolstering the rule of law and fighting corruption.
– Weapons to fight Russian gains –
The White House announced that it was sending another $450 million in fresh weapons to Ukraine including new High Mobility Artillery Rocket systems, which have been at the top of Kyiv s wish list.
The so-called Himars system can simultaneously launch multiple precision missiles at an extended range.
An initial four units have already been delivered, with Ukrainian soldiers being trained to operate the equipment, after President Joe Biden s administration said Kyiv had offered assurances it would not fire into Russia.
Ukraine s needs have been increasingly urgent as Russia — which failed to take Kyiv immediately after invading on February 24 — advances in the east, tightening its grip on strategically important Severodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Donets river.
Taking the cities would give Moscow control of the whole of Lugansk, allowing Russia to press further into the Donbas region and potentially farther west.
Ukraine acknowledged Thursday that it had lost control of two areas from where it was defending the cities, with Russian forces now closer to encircling the industrial hubs.
Britain s defence ministry said some Ukrainian units had probably been forced to withdraw “to avoid being encircled”.