On October 13, Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Perebyinis took part in the Senior Officials Meeting of the external action Initiative “Eastern Partnership”.

The representatives of the Eastern Partnership Countries and EU Member States covered issues of the EaP future policy amid the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, prospects of adapting the Initiative to new reality, developing a flexible organizational EaP architecture in order to support the EU enlargement process.

Yevhen Perebyinis thanked the representatives of the EU Member States for their solidarity and assistance facing Russia's ongoing full-scale aggression against Ukraine and provided information on the consequences of recent Russia’s massive missile attacks across Ukraine.

The Deputy Minister underlined that the Russian invasion of Ukraine, radical change of the situation in the region, granting the status of the EU-candidate country to Ukraine and Moldova, as well as the European perspective to Georgia, led to the need to adapt the Eastern Partnership initiative to the status-quo. Yevhen Perebyinis also informed the participants about further steps on the path to EU membership.

Emphasizing Ukraine's desire to cooperate closely with the EU and Eastern partners, Yevhen Perebyinis noted that the Eastern Partnership should be a mechanism for deepening practical sectoral cooperation and an instrument for further strengthening of political association and economic integration with the EU.