Ukrainian President announces goal of joining NATO and EU

On December 1, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that the country's government plans to soon hold a referendum on joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU).

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. (Source: AFP/VNA)

According to a VNA reporter in Eastern Europe, President Poroshenko said that the country is now determined to follow the path of NATO integration and is certain that a referendum will take place in the very near future.

He also believes that the Ukrainian people will support this initiative as well as joining the EU.

Ukraine abandoned its neutral country status in December 2014 following domestic political turmoil and conflict with the Russian Federation.

President Poroshenko declared that joining NATO is the country's strategic goal and emphasized that by 2020 Ukraine will bring its army up to all NATO military criteria.

The Ukrainian parliament also declared NATO membership as one of the country's foreign policy goals.

In December 2016, Ukraine received EU association status, but this status does not include EU accession rights, security guarantees, or direct military support, nor does it give Ukrainian citizens the right to live and work in the EU.

On July 11, the European Council approved the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which was signed in 2014 to establish political and economic ties between the union and Ukraine.

However, under the agreement, Ukraine must adopt a series of reform programs, including the fight against corruption, public financial management, decentralization and the energy sector.

The EU and Ukraine signed an Association Agreement in late 2014, at a time when EU-Russia relations had fallen to their lowest point in decades.

According to Vietnamplus