Exactly one year ago, in February 2022, all Western embassies hurriedly packed up and left Ukraine, never to return, because they did not believe that we would survive.

And today, against the background of the statements of the head of the CIA, William Burns, that the next six months in the war will be critical, the EU leadership is coming to Kyiv together with 15 European commissioners, discussing the European integration of Ukraine, the 10th package of sanctions against Russia and new arms deliveries.

Ursula von der Leyen spoke a lot about this at the final press conference.

She arrived in Kyiv a day before the summit and even went down to the shelter because of the announced air alert.

"I think it's symbolic that after this short visit to the post office on the Maidan there was an air raid. We had to go to the warehouse. It shows the reality of every day, the reality of war that you experience here again and again. And if living proof was needed that Russia is experiencing a huge strategic failure, and Ukraine is enduring and building its way to the EU, this is the fact that we are here to participate in the 24th Ukraine-EU summit in conditions of war," added the President of the European Commission.

None of the European leaders hid that for the official start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU, homework still needs to be completed - seven recommendations of the European Commission, which relate to judicial reform, the fight against corruption, changes in legislation on national minorities, etc.

However, in seven months, Ukraine has made more than 50% progress in implementing these recommendations.

Therefore, we can hope, and Ursula von der Leyen hinted at this, that in the fall we will finally hear about the official start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

TSN

Weapon

Answering journalists' questions at the final press conference, Volodymyr Zelenskyi did not hide that Russia wants revenge.

According to him, their military pressure on Donbas will increase.

The president also noted that Ukraine is preparing for various scenarios in order to prevent a repeat of February 24, 2022.

"Russia is trying to change the situation at the front in its favor. In order to prevent this, the key for us is the expansion of arms supplies from our partners. These are conditions where the more long-range weapons we have, the better equipped our artillery is, the faster on the battlefield modern Western tanks will start operating in Ukraine, the stronger our air defense system will be, the sooner Russia's aggression will end," Volodymyr Zelenskyi said.

The Ukrainian president even hinted that he might personally visit Brussels (which would be highly symbolic after his historic visit to the US late last year) if there was a chance to get long-range weapons.

And just a few hours after the end of the Ukraine-EU summit, America took such a step, announcing a new package of military aid to Ukraine worth $2.2 billion, which will include ammunition for HIMARS with a range of 150 km.

And France and Italy will finally supply Ukraine with SAMP-T anti-missile systems capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.

The Minister of Defense of France also announced this a few hours after the end of the Ukraine-EU summit.

For its part, the EU allocates 45 million euros for 2023 to train 30,000 Ukrainian soldiers, as well as 500 million euros as part of the seventh tranche from the European Peace Fund, which finances the purchase of weapons for Ukraine.

It is worth recalling that this is the first time in the history of the EU that the bloc created a special military fund for the purchase of lethal weapons to a third country that is not a member of the EU.  

Sanctions

The 24th Ukraine-EU summit paid a lot of attention to the strengthening of sanctions against Russia.

Ursula von der Leyen said that the next, tenth sanctions package is on the way.

The EU will adopt it by February 24.

"Its volume is about 10 billion euros. This is a significant package of sanctions. The plan is to focus again on technologies that should not be used by the Russian war machine. We are looking in more detail and deeper into the components that, for example, were found in drones, so that Russia does not had access to these technologies for production, or supplies from Iran, which we are also monitoring. And the third component is that we focus on ways to circumvent sanctions. Therefore, the tenth package will have certain proposals to counter this," explained the president of the European Commission.

It is still unknown whether the tenth package will include sanctions against the Russian nuclear energy industry, in particular Rosatom.

President Zelenskyi openly called on EU leaders to do so at the final press conference.

But, as you know, the Hungarian Prime Minister has already promised to block the "nuclear" anti-Russian sanctions, because "Rosatom" is building two more reactors at the Paks NPP near Budapest.

An equally interesting mention in the final declaration of the summit is the responsibility of Belarus for complicity in Russia's war against Ukraine: "The EU will continue to respond to all actions that support Russia's illegal and unjustified war of aggression, and remains ready to quickly take further restrictive measures against Belarus."

Membership in the EU

This became the central topic of the summit.

In the article on expectations from the 24th meeting of the leaders of the EU and Ukraine, TSN.ua already wrote that back in June 2022, when Ukraine received the status of a candidate for EU membership, we agreed with the European Commission on a list of seven recommendations, after the implementation of which we we must turn the next page in the history of Ukrainian European integration - start official negotiations on accession.

"The EU will decide on further steps when all the conditions specified in the conclusion of the European Commission are fully met. Ukraine has emphasized its determination to fulfill the necessary requirements for the earliest possible start of accession negotiations," the final declaration of the summit reads.

According to the chairman of the European Council, Charles Michel, the future of Ukraine lies within the EU.

And the signal of this summit for Ukraine is obvious - we will become a member of the EU.

"Ukrainians have made a clear choice in favor of freedom, democracy and the rule of law. Your future is with us in our common EU. Your destiny is our destiny. This summit sends two clear messages: the first is for you and for the people of Ukraine - the EU will support you in all possible ways. The Kremlin has not intimidated us and will not intimidate us," said Charles Michel.

For the first time, the final declaration of the summit contained a wording of the parties' intentions to start official negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU.

For this purpose, in the spring, the European Commission will provide Ukraine with an updated assessment of the reforms that Ukraine still has to implement.

However, the EU has already highlighted the progress we have already made in implementing two of the seven recommendations: ensuring the independent and effective work of anti-corruption bodies and aligning media legislation with EU legislation on audiovisual media services.

Tribunal, roaming and trade

1.

An equally important decision of the summit is the EU's agreement to create a mechanism to punish the Russian leadership for the crime of aggression.

However, unfortunately, this is not yet an agreement to create a special tribunal like the Nuremberg one.

"We emphasized our support for the investigations of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Russia and all perpetrators and accomplices will be held accountable," the summit's joint declaration said.

2. The

EU will consider Ukraine's request to extend the special export regime for Ukrainian goods for another year.

It is about the June decision of Brussels to cancel import duties on all Ukrainian goods in order to support our economy.

3.

In the coming months, Ukraine will finally join the European roaming space.

What it means?

That Ukraine and the EU will mutually cancel roaming charges, so the use of communication services in Europe will become more affordable for Ukrainians.

4.

The EU agreed that the frozen assets of Russia should be directed to support the recovery of Ukraine.

Well, in the meantime, the EU provides the first 1 billion euros from its budget for the reconstruction of our country.