On Tuesday 25 June, Ukraine officially opened its EU accession negotiations in Luxembourg, a move welcomed by many European affairs ministers, as well as the Presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, who described the day as “historic”.
Ukraine applied to join the EU in February 2022, a few days after the Russian invasion, and was granted candidate status in June 2022. In December 2023, EU leaders decided to open accession negotiations with the country.