Agnes Szucs
09 February 2023•Update: 09 February 2023
BRUSSELS
Ukraine will win the war against Russia and become an EU member, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday in his first in-person speech at the European Parliament.
Zelenskyy, who held talks with British, French, and German leaders on Wednesday in London and Paris to ask for more military aid, arrived in Brussels earlier this morning.
His first trip led him to the European Parliament where he gave a speech to EU lawmakers and members of the European Commission.
He said Ukraine is fighting the nearly year-old war to “defend the European way of life,” which is based on rule of law, open societies, and the inviolability of borders.
Zelenskyy stressed that while his country is “fighting, defending itself, it is also modernizing and reforming its institutions” so that it could become an EU member after it received the EU candidate status last June.
“Ukraine is going to be a member of the European Union. Ukraine, that is winning, is going to be a member of the European Union,” he said.
Zelenskyy asserted that when Ukrainians fight, they dream about a better future for their children and grandchildren, and “the precondition for these dreams is peace and security.”
He thanked all European citizens, including electricity workers, policemen, rescuers, lawyers, professors, and businesspeople, for their support of Ukraine, saying it “will result in a common victory.”
Later in the day, Zelenskyy will join the 27 EU leaders at their extraordinary summit.
