The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine welcomes the historic decision of the European Council to open negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the European Union, adopted in Brussels on 14 December.

As stated by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's membership in the EU means security and prosperity for the whole Europe. Nothing will stop our country on its path the European Union membership.

We are grateful to our partners who contributed to this important decision.

We expect the European Commission to start preparing a mandate for negotiations and an analytical assessment of Ukrainian legislation (screening) as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine also welcomes the summit's decision in principle to establish a €50 billion Ukraine Facility for 2024-2027. This is a clear signal that the EU's financial support for Ukraine will continue. We expect all the necessary legal procedures to be completed in January 2024, which will allow us to receive the relevant funding as soon as possible.

The 50 billion euros to be allocated by the EU to Ukraine will be used, in particular, to support macroeconomic stability, restore and modernize our country, and accelerate its integration into the EU.

The approval of the 12th package of the EU sanctions against Russia was also important. Ukraine has been working with its partners for a long time on a new European sanctions package that will help close loopholes for Russia to circumvent sanctions and reduce the possibility of further financing of the Russian military machine.

We welcome the commitment of the EU and its member states to continue to meet Ukraine's urgent military and defense needs, in particular through the European Peace Facility (EPF) and the EU Military Assistance Mission, as well as through bilateral assistance from member states.

We call on the EU to approve the new eighth tranche of assistance under the European Peace Fund as soon as possible. We support the European Council's proposal to accelerate work on reforming the EPF and increasing its funding to better meet Ukraine's military needs.

We also hope that the mechanism for using Russia’s frozen assets for Ukraine's reconstruction will be agreed upon as soon as possible, and that they will be channeled to Ukraine's needs, in particular through the Ukraine Facility.