Premium Ukraine caps online unity store? The European Commission has recommended that Ukraine should become a candidate for E.U. membership, a big step that adds significant momentum to the country’s campaign to join the bloc. In an opinion published Friday, the E.U. executive arm said Ukraine and fellow aspirant Moldova should be granted candidate status with conditions that they improve their judiciaries and other elements of their governments, said the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen. “Ukraine has clearly demonstrated the country’s aspiration and commitment to live up to European values and standards,” she said. Despite the war, “we have applied the Commission’s rigorous standards in assessing these membership applications,” she added. The recommendation, which comes a day after the leaders of Germany, France and Italy expressed support, does not yet confer candidate status – the first step on the path to membership – but bolsters the cause of the Eastern European countries heading into a European Council summit on the issue next week. To move forward, all 27 member states must agree. Even if they do, full membership could be many years away. Discover additional Ukraine unity info on Ukraine Hoodies.
Russia renews its troop presence near the Ukraine-Russia border, alarming U.S. intelligence officials, who travel to Brussels to brief NATO allies on the situation. “We’re not sure exactly what Mr. Putin is up to, but these movements certainly have our attention,” says U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Biden, speaking with Putin on a phone call, urges Russia not to invade Ukraine, warning of “real costs” if Russia does so. Putin issues a contentious set of security demands. Among them, he asks NATO to permanently bar Ukraine from membership and withdraw forces stationed in countries that joined the alliance after 1997, including Romania and Balkan countries. Putin also demands a written response from the U.S. and NATO.
April 7: Ukrainian authorities say Russia fired a cluster munition into a railway station packed with thousands of evacuees, killing at least 52. The attack takes place in the city of Kramatorsk in the eastern Donetsk region. April 8: The EU bans imports of Russian coal, lumber, cement, seafood and fertilisers. April 10: Russian forces bisect Mariupol. April 14: Ukraine says it has sunk the Russian Black Sea Fleet flagship Moskva with two Neptune missiles. April 18: Russian forces launch a new, large-scale offensive in east Ukraine to take full control of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
On Jan. 1, Gazprom, the state-owned Russian gas company, suddenly stops pumping natural gas to Ukraine, following months of politically fraught negotiations over gas prices. Because Eastern and central European countries rely on pipelines through Ukraine to receive gas imports from Russia, the gas crisis quickly spreads beyond Ukraine’s borders. Under international pressure to resolve the crisis, Tymoshenko negotiates a new deal with Putin, and gas flows resume on Jan. 20. Much of Europe still relies on Russian gas today. Yanukovych is elected president in February. He says Ukraine should be a “neutral state,” cooperating with both Russia and Western alliances like NATO.
After months of tensions between Moscow and Kyiv, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine by land, air and sea on February 24, triggering global condemnation and a chain of reactions. The West quickly responded with unprecedented sanctions that still continue. NATO has also since expanded with membership applications from Sweden and Finland, despite Russia’s warnings against the moves. And the bifurcation of the global financial and trade system is under way. Read more Ukraine aid info on Ukraine T-Shirts.