Zelenskyy hands over Ukraine's EU membership questionnaire to EU envoy

Today is one of the stages for our country in joining the EU, the aspiration that our people are striving for and fighting for, said Zelenskyy

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has handed over a questionnaire aimed at achieving his country's candidate status for the European Union (EU) membership to the EU Ambassador Matti Maasikas, the presidential press service said.

"Today is one of the stages for our country in joining the EU, the aspiration that our people are striving for and fighting for," Zelenskyy said at the handover ceremony in Kyiv.

The people of Ukraine are united by the goal to become a part of the EU, Zelensky stressed, noting that the prompt work on providing a questionnaire to Ukraine is an important signal for Kyiv, Xinhua news agency reported.

"We believe that we will gain support and become a candidate for accession," Zelenskyy said.

For his part, Maasikas said that Ukraine's answers to the questionnaire will be analysed "very quickly".

Earlier in the day, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Olha Stefanishyna said that Kyiv has sent the first part of a questionnaire, which covers political and economic spheres, to the European Commission.

The other part, which assesses the compliance of Ukrainian legislation with the EU laws, will be sent to the European Commission soon, Stefanishyna said.

On February 28, Zelenskyy signed an official appeal to the EU asking for the accession of Ukraine via a new special procedure.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen handed over a questionnaire to Zelenskyy during her visit to Kyiv on April 8.