The European Union has agreed to put Ukraine on a path toward EU membership. 9News
on a path toward EU membership, acting with uncharacteristic speed and unity to pull the embattled country further away from Russia's influence and bind it more closely to the West.
Ukraine applied for membership less than a week after Moscow invaded on February 24. Thursday's decision was unusually rapid for the EU and its go-slow approach to expansion. But the war and Ukraine's request for fast-track consideration lent urgency to the cause. "It will strengthen Ukraine, it will strengthen Europe. It is a decision for freedom and democracy and puts us on the right side of history," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said ahead of the final decision.The EU nations have been united in backing Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion with money and weapons, adopting unprecedented economic sanctions against the Kremlin.
Ukraine has long aspired to join NATO, too, but the military alliance is not about to offer an invitation, in part because of the country's corruption, shortcomings in its defence establishment, and its contested borders. In 2013, however, Putin objected to Ukraine's plans to sign an association agreement with the EU and pressured the Ukrainian president at the time to pull out at the last minute. This backfired by setting off mass protests that eventually ousted the president and ushered in leaders more eager than ever to bring Ukraine into the Western fold.
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