Relations between Ukraine and the European Union are moving from a policy of neighborhood to a policy of enlargement, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal has said.

"Candidate status is a high assessment of market transformations, thanks to which we have integrated energy, digital sphere, customs, transport and other key sectors into the EU economy. These are new prospects and new opportunities for Ukraine. Access to new EU financial support programs. These are new investments, new projects, new jobs, as well as support for post-war reconstruction," he said in a joint video message with the President and Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada on the occasion of granting Ukraine the EU candidate status.

"Now Ukraine has a legally assigned place in the European family. And relations between us and the EU are moving from a policy of neighborhood to a policy of enlargement," Shmyhal stressed.