EU leaders gathered at Versailles for a two-day summit starting Thursday on how to address Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid calls from Kyiv for a fast-tracked path to membership in the European bloc, reports FRANCE 24.
EU leaders doused Ukraine's hopes gaining membership of the European Union quickly on Thursday, as they met to urgently address the fallout of the Russia's invasion.
The meeting at the palace of Versailles was set to be the high point of France's six-month EU presidency, but President Emmanuel Macron is instead leading a crisis summit following Russian leader Vladimir Putin's brutal disruption of decades of stability in Europe.
The Ukraine war and the EU's energy supply were to dominate the two-day meeting, with leaders sitting down for dinner in the same Hall of Mirrors where Western allies carved out a new map of Europe in 1919 after World War I.
"Europe will change even faster and stronger with the war [in Ukraine]", Macron said as he greeted his counterparts at the former residence of France's Sun King, Louis XIV.
The 27 heads of state and government met as fighting raged for a 15th day in Ukraine, with an outcry over the bombing of a maternity hospital in the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the attack as a Russian "war crime". Moscow denied carrying it out, calling it a "staged provocation" by Ukraine.
Macron dubbed it a "disgraceful act of war", with leaders from across the bloc condemning the atrocity and Spain calling it a "war crime" that demanded punishment.
The conflict has seen a swell of support in the EU for Ukrainian President Zelensky, but leaders used the talks to reiterate that a speedy track to membership was impossible.
"There is no such thing as a fast track," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said as he arrived for the talks.
"I want to focus on what can we do for Volodymyr Zelensky tonight, tomorrow, and EU accession of Ukraine is something for the long term, if at all," he added.
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel warned against giving Kyiv the impression that "everything can happen overnight".