Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes to join the EU soon – Odessa under fire

Ukraine is fighting to join the EU as quickly as possible. US President Biden, meanwhile, is relying on a new version of a historic law for arms deliveries. An overview

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hopes that his country will be granted EU candidate status as early as June. He said that on Monday evening in his daily video address. Hours earlier, around 1,000 pages of documents had been handed over to Brussels in response to the famous questionnaire on EU membership.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden signed legislation facilitating the delivery of armaments to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. At the same time, he urged Congress to approve a billion-euro package for Kyiv soon. From the Russian side there were several rocket attacks against the port city of Odessa.

EU accession candidate already in June?

“Today we took another step on our way to the European Union, an important and not only formal one,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address on Monday evening. On Monday, his country submitted the second half of the answers to the questionnaire that every state has to fill out to apply for membership. “It usually takes months, but we got it done in weeks.”

Zelensky said he spoke to both EU Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about Ukraine’s European integration.

Both were impressed by the quick response to the questionnaire. “And I was pleased to hear from her (von der Leyen) that our speed will stimulate the EU Commission to act just as quickly.” He expects a positive response and candidate status for Ukraine in June.

Biden signs law allowing arms sales to Ukraine

US President Biden signed a law that – similar to the Lend-Lease Act from the Second World War era – facilitates the delivery of armaments to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.

Biden spoke of an “important tool in supporting the Ukrainian government and people in their fight to defend their country and democracy” against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. “The cost of fighting is not small. But yielding to aggression is even more expensive.”

Selenskyj spoke of a “historic step”. Ukraine is grateful, he tweeted. “I am sure that we will win together again. And we will defend democracy in Ukraine. And in Europe. Just like 77 years ago.”

The US President will thus be authorized until 2023 to lend or lease military equipment to Ukraine and other countries in Eastern Europe affected by the Russian war of aggression. The US Congress passed a similar lend-lease law in 1941, which allowed the US to supply armaments to the Allies fighting the Nazis.

Biden urges Congress to hurry on billion-euro package for Ukraine

Biden has asked Congress for quick approval of the billion-euro package he is requesting to help Ukraine. “I have almost exhausted the funds made available to me by a bipartisan majority in Congress in support of Ukrainian fighters,” Biden said Monday. This could be the case in around ten days. “We cannot allow our aid supplies to be halted while we await further action from Congress.”

Biden has asked Congress for an additional $33 billion. Most of this sum – more than $20 billion – is to be used for military aid.

The US government had previously launched several large packages of support for Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war at the end of February, the United States has promised or delivered weapons and ammunition worth more than 3.7 billion US dollars (around 3.5 billion euros) to the former Soviet republic.

Dead and injured in Russian rocket attacks on Odessa

At least one person was killed and five others injured in Russian rocket attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa on Tuesday night. This was reported by the Unian agency, citing the local military leadership. “The enemy maintains its psychological pressure and continues its hysterical attacks against peaceful civilians and civilian infrastructure,” it said.

The city was shaken by numerous explosions in the evening. According to media reports, among other things, a shopping center and a warehouse were hit. Shortly before, the Russian Air Force had fired several Kinzhal-type hypersonic missiles at Odessa, according to the Ukrainian military. “Tourist objects” were hit and at least five buildings were destroyed, Ukrajinska Pravda reported.

The port city in southern Ukraine has been the target of increased Russian rocket attacks since Sunday evening. Several rockets fell in the region on Monday afternoon during a visit by EU Council President Charles Michel. Michel and the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal therefore had to seek protection. With this, Russia is showing its true attitude towards Europe, commented President Zelenskyj in the evening.

Allegedly still civilians at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol

Despite reports that all civilians had been completely evacuated from the Azovstal plant in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, which was besieged by Russian troops, around 100 civilians are said to be still there. In addition, around 100,000 people were still in the badly damaged city, said regional head of administration Pavlo Kyrylenko on Monday evening. “It’s hard to say which of them wants to leave the city,” he was quoted as saying by Ukrajinska Pravda.

Ukrainian troops have entrenched themselves in the Steelworks, the last bastion in Mariupol. In the past few days, several hundred women, children and the elderly have been evacuated from there with the help of the United Nations and the Red Cross. However, the Azovstal defenders did not want to rule out the possibility that civilians were still staying in some of the cellars on the extensive site.

What does the day bring?

Zelenskyj wants to address the Slovakian parliament in a video message on Tuesday. Against the background of the Ukraine war, the ministers responsible for digitization in the G7 countries are meeting in Düsseldorf to discuss how they can pull together more closely when it comes to cyber security.