Zelenskyy: Do not offer Ukraine 'light' EU membership format

There is no need to offer Ukraine partial EU membership; it must be viewed as an equal country, like other countries of the European Union, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"When we spoke about candidate status, I asked: ‘Please tell us what we need to do to be on the same level as you.’ Do not offer us conditions such as ‘EU light’ or Article 5-style security guarantees; please be honest with us," Zelenskyy said in an interview with Clash Report on Tuesday.

According to the president, Ukraine is strong enough to strengthen the EU, but "EU countries are quite skeptical."

"They all say: ‘Well, we are not going to change the rules for Ukraine.’ But we are not asking for that; we are not asking to be given half-reforms or anything like that. Do not give us extra things, and look at us as an equal country… And when we strengthen you and you strengthen us, do not look at us as if we are begging you to let us in," he noted.

The head of state emphasized that Ukraine needs an accession date because, according to him, he informed the European Union "that you will lose Ukraine as you lost Georgia."

As reported, German and French proposals outlined in separate documents seen by the Financial Times dampen any hopes in Kyiv that the war-torn country might be granted privileged status in its quest to join the bloc.

Germany is pushing for "associated member" status—under which Kyiv would participate in ministerial and leadership meetings but would have no voting rights and "would not be able to automatically benefit" from the common EU budget, the Financial Times writes.

According to the publication, France calls such interim membership "integrated state status," under which access to the "Common Agricultural Policy and European funding, such as cohesion policy… must be delayed until the post-accession stage."