As Russia Pounds Kharkiv, Ukraine's Zelensky Looks To EU
NDTV
European leaders will formally set Ukraine on the long road to EU membership at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday hailed the European Union's expected offer of candidate status for his battle-weary nation, as Russian forces pounded Ukraine's second-biggest city Kharkiv and the eastern Donbas region.
European leaders will formally set Ukraine on the long road to EU membership at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Though mainly symbolic, the move will help lift national morale at a very difficult time in a four-month conflict that has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened towns and cities.
The war has also had a massive impact on the global economy and European security arrangements, driving up gas, oil and food prices, pushing the EU to reduce its heavy reliance on Russian energy and prompting Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership.
The EU will temporarily shift back to coal to cope with dwindling Russian gas flows without derailing longer-term climate goals, an EU official said on Wednesday, as a tight gas market and soaring prices set off a race for alternative fuels.
