Poroshenko, European Parliament committee chair discuss support for Ukrainian defense industry, use of Russian assets
During a visit to Strasbourg, MP of Ukraine, leader of the European Solidarity party Petro Poroshenko discussed with Chair of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee David McAllister new initiatives of the European Commission in support of the Ukrainian defense industry, the drone alliance, the use of frozen Russian assets and the return of Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, the political force said on their website on Wednesday.
"We also agreed to strengthen the role of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee in accelerating the start of negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union," Poroshenko said.
He also discussed with European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos the situation on the front and the prospects for a peaceful settlement. "The latest massive shelling of Ukraine does not indicate the readiness of the Putin regime to end the war. In this regard, we strongly condemn the missile shelling of the village of Yarova in Donetsk region, which claimed the lives of more than two dozen civilians," Poroshenko said, adding that "everyone in Strasbourg is shocked by the massive missile and drone shelling of Ukraine."
"The entire Ukrainian society is united around the idea of Ukraine's European future... We agreed to continue our contacts to ensure a systemic process of Ukraine's integration into the EU," Poroshenko added after the conversation with Kos.
He agreed with President of the European People's Party (EPP) Manfred Weber to coordinate a strategy in support of Ukraine. The EPP has the largest group in the European Parliament, and European Solidarity is an associated member of the EPP.
"I called on European partners to pay attention to the importance of working on guarantees for Ukraine's democratic development, in particular in the context of negotiations on accession to the EU. We coordinated approaches to accelerating the resolution of the issue of the opening by the EU Council of the 'Fundamentals' negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova, which will contribute to strengthening the control of Ukrainian society and international partners over the actions of the authorities in the field of the rule of law, justice, human rights and the fight against corruption," Poroshenko said.