Zelenskyy makes emotional appeal for EU membership

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked his Western allies Thursday for more weapons and said “a Ukraine that is winning” its war with Russia should become a member of the European Union, arguing the bloc won’t be complete without it.

Zelenskyy made his appeal during an emotional day at EU headquarters in Brussels as he wrapped up a rare, two- day trip outside Ukraine to seek new weaponry from the West to repel the invasion that Moscow has been waging for nearly a year. As he spoke, a new offensive by Russia in eastern Ukraine was under way.

Zelenskyy, who also visited the U.K. and France, received rapturous applause and cheers from the European Parliament and a summit of the 27 EU leaders, insisting in his speech that the fight with Russia was one for the freedom of all of Europe.

“A Ukraine that is winning is going to be member of the European Union,” Zelenskyy said, building his appeal around the common destiny that Ukraine and the bloc face in confronting Russia.

“Europe will always be, and remain Europe as long

as we ... take care of the European way of life,” he said.

EU membership talks should start later this year, Zelenskyy said, an ambitious request given the huge task ahead. Such a move would help motivate Ukrainian soldiers in their defense of the country, he said.

“Of course we need it this year,” he said, then looked at European Council head Charles Michel, and insisted, tongue-in- cheek: “When I say this year, I mean this year. Two, zero, 23.”

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, however, said “there is no rigid timeline.” In practice, membership often has taken decades to complete.

He held up an EU flag after his address and the

lawmakers stood in somber silence as the Ukrainian national anthem and the European anthem “Ode to Joy” were played in succession.

Before his speech, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said allies should consider “quickly, as a next step, providing long-range systems” and fighter jets to Ukraine. The response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine “must be proportional to the threat, and the threat is existential,” she said.

Metsola also told Zelenskyy that “we have your back. We were with you then, we are with you now, we will be with you for as long as it takes.”

OLIVIER MATTHYS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gestures as European Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola, right, applauds during an EU summit at the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday.