European Union leaders plan to assess Ukraine’s membership to EU in June as war continues

In a major development, it has come to light that European Union leaders are planning to assess Ukraine's membership next month, reported The Guardian. The French Foreign Ministry announced that Ukraine's application to become an EU member was being examined by the European Commission and would be "discussed at the head of state and government level at the European Council in the month of June," said the spokesperson for the ministry.

Meanwhile, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN said that Ukraine joining the European Union would be considered the same as joining NATO in the Kremlin's eyes. Earlier, Moscow had signaled that Ukraine may join the EU as it is mainly a political and economic body, but stressed severe consequences if Kyiv applied for NATO membership. Later, Russia's deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, in an interview, stated that Russia no longer sees much difference between NATO and the EU.

"Our position on the European Union now is more similar to NATO because we don't see a big difference," Polyanskiy, Russia's deputy permanent representative to the UN, said in an interview with the British news outlet UnHerd, reported Newsweek.

Earlier on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Ukraine should become a full member of the European Union and that there could be no shortcut to membership. At a joint news conference held in Kyiv, Baerbock mentioned that Germany would reduce its imports of Russian energy to zero, "and that will stay that way forever."

EU proposes streamlined export plan for agricultural goods stuck in Ukraine

In a bid to address the threat to global food security, the European Union on Thursday proposed establishing "solidarity lanes" for exporting agricultural goods from Ukraine. Through this move, the EU plans to integrate Ukrainian and EU infrastructure to mobilize 20 million metric tonnes of grain struck in the war-hit country. The commission, in a news release, said that "thousands" of trucks and wagons are still standing on the Ukrainian side of many EU borders. Meanwhile, the EU has also urged the national authorities to apply "maximum flexibility to accelerate procedures at border crossing points" and work to secure more capacity for temporarily storing Ukrainian exports. The ongoing war has caused a global supply crisis of grains such as wheat and corn.