Petr Pavel visits Ukraine: membership in the EU not “if” but “when”

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Kyiv with the President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel on 28th April and thanked for the support of Ukraine since the first day of the war.

During the meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Petr Pavel assured that he would insist on the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the EU this year.

“For us, Ukraine’s membership in the EU and NATO is not a question of “if”, but “when”. I assured President Zelenskyy that the Czech Republic will be a voice that will remind everyone and everywhere that Ukraine deserves to be a full member of the family of democratic countries. I will insist that negotiations with the EU on accession begin before the end of the year,” the Czech President wrote on Twitter.

The President of the Czech Republic Petr Pavel together with the President of Slovakia Zuzana Čaputova arrived on a visit to Ukraine. This is the first visit of the Czech head of state to Ukraine since 2013.

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Ruslan Stefanchuk, during a meeting with Petro Pavel and Zuzana Čaputova, emphasized the important issues for Ukraine – full membership in the EU and NATO.

“I hope that in Vilnius, thanks to friends and allies, we will gain a Euro-Atlantic perspective,” he said.

Pavel and Čaputova visited the settlements liberated from the Russian invaders, and also plan to meet with representatives of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov.

Photo: Petr Pavel [L] and Volodymyr Zelenskyy [R].