Zelensky demands full EU membership for Ukraine

**From The Telegraph:**

Volodymyr Zelensky has demanded that Ukraine be granted full membership of the European Union.

Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, had called for the country to be given a special half-in, half-out relationship, which would mean it could participate in European summits and ministerial meetings – but not cast a vote.

Mr Zelensky criticised the “associate membership” concept, branding it an “unfair” move that would leave Ukraine “voiceless”.

The Ukrainian president urged the EU to commit to his country’s full entry in a letter addressed to Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, and Nikos Christodoulides, the Cypriot president who holds the rotating chair of the Council of Ministers.

“We are defending Europe – fully, not partially, and not with half-measures,” he wrote in a letter seen by Reuters late on Friday.

“Ukraine deserves a fair approach and equal rights within Europe.”

Mr Zelensky added: “It would be unfair for Ukraine to be present in the ‌European ⁠Union, but remain voiceless.

“The time is right to move forward with Ukraine’s membership in a full and meaningful way.”

Mr Zelensky said that the removal of Viktor Orbán – the Hungarian prime minister who was a staunch opponent of Ukraine’s EU membership – in elections last month created the opportunity for substantive progress on accession talks.

**Read more here:** [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/23/ukraine-eu-zelensky-merz-leyen/](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/23/ukraine-eu-zelensky-merz-leyen/?WT.mc_id=tmgoff_reddit&accesscontrol=facebookchannel_open)

The main hurdle right now is that the EU requires free and fair elections in any country that joins the EU, and Ukraine doesn’t and can’t have that currently due to the ongoing marshall law situation that has frozen elections.

This is just posturing.

Ukraine rightly feels they’ve earned membership. But fact is reforms need to be made and an arbitrary date doesn’t make sense either. They will have to accept this but Z needs to still register their disapproval.

EU needs to give assurances and iron clad promises they can’t renege on. But fundamentally there are irreconcialiable differences and compromise is needed.

The formulation of the article headline is dog shit, because it insinuates, that Zelensky would demand full membership right now.

That is obviously wrong, he instead demands Ukraine to not be treated lesser than other EU ascendancy candidates, which imho is completely understandable and normal.

The Ukraine war is also fought over Ukraine’s sovereign right to themselves determine their foreign policy.
Treating Ukraine as lesser than other nations is a callback to older times, where Ukraine was just treated as a colony of the Russians in all but name, as a “buffer country” between East and West.

Merz shows ill judgement here and I say that as a German. In recent polls he is the least popular head of government of any nation worldwide right now.

Merz acts like an idiot here, once Ukraine has won and liberated all of its territories, restoring the 1991 borders, Ukraine should go through the regular accession process and become a full EU member. No ifs, no buts, just treat it like every other nation seeking EU membership.

Ukraine should get EU membership but criteria needs to be clear. First agriculture issues in particular with Poland need to be sorted out. Most importantly are issues relating to corruption and governance. Show clear institutional reforms and sure great.