President Zelensky calls for Ukraine to be granted EU membership

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for his country to be admitted to the European Union, in light of the Russian invasion.

"It is a crucial moment to close the long-standing discussion once and for all and decide on Ukraine's membership in the EU," Zelensky wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Zelensky said he had discussed "further effective assistance" as well as "the heroic struggle of Ukrainians for their free future" with European Council President Charles Michel.

Ukraine is not listed by the EU as an official candidate country or a potential candidate. In the past, there has been concern that taking such a step would harm the EU-Russia relationship.

Ukraine’s 2014 revolution was sparked by almost three months of protests on Kiev's Maidan square, against the suspension of the preparations for the signing of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement.

It eventually toppled pro-Russian former president Viktor Yanukovych.

Russia then seized the Crimean Peninsula and war broke out in eastern Ukraine.