Ukraine cannot cooperate with the European Union at the expense of dropping cooperation with the countries of the Customs Union, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said.

"When choosing a policy of rapprochement with the European Union, we are making a pragmatic choice of the optimal model of national modernization. At the same time, Ukraine is interested in deeper economic cooperation with the countries of the Eurasian space," the president said at a regional meeting of the World Economic Forum in Kyiv on Wednesday.

According to him, with such cooperation, Ukraine is pursuing its strategic economic interests.

"We cannot afford to see that the condition for cooperation with one union should be putting an end to a deeper cooperation with the other [union]. We view a free trade area, which is the model of cooperation with strategic partners chosen by Ukraine, as the best for the country at its present development stage," Yanukovych said.