Ukraine submits questionnaire for EU membership; likely to receive member status by June

As the war continues for more than six weeks now, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olga Stefanishyna informed on Saturday that the European Union has received Ukraine’s membership questionnaire during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that the bloc will expedite its official membership in the Union.

Olga Stefanishyna further informed that official preparatory work to include the former Soviet nation in the organisation has been done and Kyiv will gain its official candidate status in June.

Ukraine to receive EU membership by June

This comes in as Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signed an application for European Union membership on the fifth day of the Russia-Ukraine war and claimed that for Ukrainians, it was both reasonable and imminent, even though this action "may seem untimely" to others. 

The Deputy PM further dubbed Kyiv’s candidature in the European Union as 'a measure to support embattled Ukraine to recover’ from the devastation wrecked by Russia. She also termed it a significant way to undermine aggressor Russia, which wants to ‘reverse Ukraine’s democratic course.’

Previously, she had stated that Ukraine is struggling for its existence as a democratic and free country. Stefanishyna had highlighted that the war taking place in Ukraine, which is in the centre of Europe, would cause seismic movements that would be experienced all across the world. She said that thousands of civilians have died, hundreds of children have been slaughtered, entire towns have been destroyed, and millions have left their homes. "Russia's barbaric actions have shocked the world," she claimed.

Ukraine's Dy PM For European & Euro-Atlantic Integration loses husband in war

The war has not only affected her as a deputy PM, who is witnessing her country being torn in front of her eyes but personally too, as Stefanishyna lost her husband in the war against Russia.

According to Stefanishyna, her husband was killed in Ukraine's Chernihiv region. On Thursday, March 31, Stefanyshyna took to Facebook to share the tragic news. As per her Facebook post, her husband, Bohdan Stefanyshyn, was killed while taking part in a mission of the Territorial Defence Forces to rescue people near the besieged city of Chernihiv. "My beloved husband, Bogdan, died from a Russian shell on March 30 near Chernihiv, trying to save people. I’ll be with our kids, not in touch. I'm in so much pain. The b**** is war (sic)", she wrote.