“A truly historic week begins‘ Zelensky proclaimed in his daily video address, in which Ukraine will have ‘the European Union’s response to candidate status’.
“Since 1991 there have been few decisions as important for Ukraine as the ones we are expecting today,” he added, saying he was “convinced that only a positive response is in the interests of all of Europe”.
The European Commission (EC) last Friday recommended that the Council grant Ukraine candidate status to the EU, “assuming action is taken in a number of areas”.
“We have a clear message which is: yes, Ukraine deserves the European perspective and yes, Ukraine should be welcomed as a candidate country‘ announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Brussels.
Portugal will follow the European Commission’s opinion in order for Ukraine to be granted this status, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa announced last Friday after a day of hearing parties with parliamentary representatives on the matter.
EU member states meet Thursday and Friday to decide whether to officially grant Ukraine candidate status, which requires unanimity of the 27.
Current combat data
Until then, “Of course, we expect Russia to step up its attacks this week‘ Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned. ‘We are ready“, he added.
That’s what the Ukrainian leader said The Russians “are grouping their forces towards Kharkiv (northeast) and in the Zaporijia region (south)”. And added: “They’re still bombing our fuel infrastructure“.
“Let’s respond to these attacks“, assured Zelenskyy and admitted “considerable losses”. “Our army is resisting,” he said.
“(The Russians) tried an advance in the Toshkivka area, they were partially successful, but our artillery worked and we can say that the advance attempt was unsuccessful.” said the governor of the eastern Luhansk region Sergei Gaidai.
In Lysychansk there are signs of preparations for street fighting, with soldiers digging trenches and laying barbed wire and police laying burnedout vehicles on the streets to stop Russian forces from advancing.
The Russian Defense Ministry on Sunday claimed to have captured Metolkine, just outside Severodonetsk, and claimed to have hit a factory in Mykolaiv to the south after “ten 155mm M777 howitzers and up to 20 armored vehicles were destroyed, supplied by the Kiev regime “Western”.