Zelensky issues new deadline demand to EU

Even the Ukrainian leader’s staunchest supporters have refused to give him a concrete date for membership

Vladimir Zelensky speaks to the press in Kiev, Ukraine, February 24, 2026 ©  Getty Images;  Danilo Antoniuk

[RT] Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has once again demanded a “clear date” for Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. However, the prospect of Zelensky’s war-torn nation joining the EU is divisive in Brussels.

In an address to the European Council on Thursday, Zelensky declared that with a “clear date” for membership, “Russia will not be able to block our accession in any way.” Ukraine, he claimed, is “carrying out internal reforms and working externally” to secure this accession date, which “is a matter of trust, security, and the future.” 

Zelensky has issued similar demands over the last three months. Appearing alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Kiev in February, he said that joining the bloc in 2027 is “very important to us.”

The EU’s 27 member states are divided on the idea of fast-tracking Ukraine into the bloc. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has declared Zelensky’s goal of membership by 2027 “not possible,” pointing out that Ukraine must first stabilize its institutions and economy, and root out corruption. French President Emmanuel Macron has said that he supports the “opening of the first negotiation chapters” between the EU and Ukraine, without offering any potential timeline for accession.

Furthermore, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has promised to veto Ukraine’s accession, arguing that “if Ukrainians become members of the union, this war will also become our war.” 

Even von der Leyen – who bestowed candidate status upon Ukraine within weeks of Zelensky applying for membership in 2022 – has balked at the idea of offering an accession date. “From our side dates, by themselves, are not possible,” she told Zelensky in Kiev last month.

Von der Leyen has, however, proposed a so-called ‘membership-lite’ plan for Ukraine, under which Kiev would join the bloc before making the required reforms, gaining the rights of a full-fledged member only after it had passed these hurdles. This scheme, which critics warned would create a ‘two-tier’ union, proved unpopular with member states, and a memorandum released by the European Council on Thursday made no mention of such a plan, or of an accession date for Ukraine.

Instead, the document stated that “the future of Ukraine and its citizens lies within the European Union,” and that technical talks would be opened with Kiev in keeping with the traditional “merit-based approach” to membership.