EU Gives Candidate Status, President Zelensky Calls Victory: We Can Defeat The Enemy, Rebuild Ukraine

JAKARTA - President Volodymyr Zelensky declared the European Union's move to accept Ukraine as a candidate for accession a victory and vowed not to stop until Russia's defeat and full membership has been secured.

EU leaders officially accepted Ukraine as a candidate to join the 27-nation bloc, a bold geopolitical move that Ukraine and the EU itself hailed as a historic moment.

"This is a victory," smiling President Zelensky said in a short video uploaded to his Instagram channel, noting Ukraine had waited 30 years for this moment.

"We can defeat the enemy, rebuild Ukraine, join the EU and then we can rest," he said in a low voice.

"Or maybe we will not rest at all - our children will be offended. But without a doubt, we will win."

Separately, Andriy Yermak, Zelenskiy's chief of staff, said Kyiv would soon implement the necessary plans to start accession talks.

"Ukraine will be in the EU," he tweeted.

As previously reported, Ukraine was a candidate to join the European Union on Thursday, a bold geopolitical move sparked by the Russian invasion that Kyiv and Brussels hailed as a "historic moment".

"Historic moment," tweeted European Council chief Charles Michel, adding: "Our future together."

Diplomats say Ukraine will need a decade or more to meet the criteria for joining the EU. But European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she was confident Ukraine and Moldova would move as quickly as possible to implement the necessary reforms.

The approval of the Kyiv government's application by a meeting of EU leaders in Brussels will anger Russia, as it struggles to impose its will on Ukraine. Moldova also became the official candidate on Thursday, signaling the bloc's intent to reach deep into the former Soviet Union.

Russia has long opposed closer ties between Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, and Western groups such as the European Union and the NATO military alliance.