Overview
- At a joint press conference in Vilnius with Lithuania and Poland, Zelensky said Kyiv wants a specific EU entry date included in a future peace agreement to anchor security guarantees and prevent later obstruction.
- He stated Ukraine plans to open all EU negotiation clusters in the first half of 2026 and expects full technical readiness for accession in 2027.
- Zelensky said a bilateral security agreement with the United States is fully drafted and will proceed to ratification in the U.S. Congress and Ukraine’s parliament once a signing date is set.
- Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda called Ukraine’s EU membership a strategic priority and vowed to use Lithuania’s 2027 EU Council presidency to advance it, saying membership by 2030 is the goal.
- Polish President Karol Nawrocki called 2027 a hard-to-reach target for entry, and separate reporting cited unnamed European Commission officials suggesting EU membership prospects could influence Ukraine’s stance on territorial concessions.