Ukraine aims to start EU accession talks this year: Zelenskyy after meeting with European Parliament President Metsola in Lviv

The footage of the meeting was published on Zelenskyy's Telegram channel.

"I met with the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola in Lviv. Thank you for your leadership in supporting Ukraine from the first days of this terrible war and the important decisions made by the European Parliament," Zelenskyy wrote.

He reminded that on March 1 last year, the day after Ukraine's application for EU membership was submitted, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the support and necessity of granting our country the status of a candidate for EU membership.

"Ukraine seeks to complete the implementation of the European Commission's recommendations as soon as possible and start negotiations on joining the EU this year," Zelenskyy said.

The President of Ukraine also commended the resolutions adopted by the European Parliament on recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, recognizing the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine as genocide of the Ukrainian people, establishing an international tribunal for the crime of Russian aggression against Ukraine, preparing for the Ukraine-EU summit with support for the peace formula, as well as a resolution on the anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, which, in particular, calls for providing Ukraine with the necessary weapons.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Roberta Metsola for her position on the need to increase sanction pressure on Russia. He noted that the 10th sanctions package is extremely important, but the sanction pressure on the aggressor needs to be increased.

Roberta Metsola noted that she was very pleased to come to Ukraine again, in particular to visit Lviv for the first time. She assured of the unwavering support of Ukraine in countering the full-scale Russian aggression, as Ukraine is defending not only itself but also Europe, and on the path to Ukraine's EU membership. 

• On March 3, Roberta Metsola arrived in Kyiv and met with the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk.