European Union on the Verge of Decision on Ukraine's Membership

Annalena Baerbock, Germany's Foreign Minister, assured at a conference in Berlin on Thursday that the focus of next month's European Union negotiations will be on advancing Kyiv's request for membership in the bloc. She called the expansion of the EU a geostrategic necessity and stated that this meeting will be a key turning point in Kyiv's efforts to integrate with the EU. EU leaders will decide on the official start of Ukraine's membership negotiations at this meeting, which will take place on December 14 and 15. Baerbock continued, "The EU will become stronger when it does what it has long hesitated to do." Membership negotiations, in which a candidate country must meet extensive legal, economic, and political criteria, can take years and have become more complicated due to the onset of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, also stated at the same conference that Kyiv's membership would strengthen the EU. He added, "We need to find a proper balance between the EU reform process and the EU's expansion." These remarks come as Russia announced on Thursday that Ukraine is at risk of a nuclear disaster after shooting down nine Ukrainian drones near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that Kyiv continues to "play with fire" and is engaging in criminal and irresponsible actions. The International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly stated that the world is very fortunate that no nuclear incident has occurred at the Zaporizhia plant yet. On the other hand, Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, said on Thursday that his forces repelled a new Russian attack near the city of Vuhledar in the eastern Donetsk region and continued their efforts to advance southward. Vuhledar is a strategic intersection between the eastern and southern front lines, and the Ukrainian army claims that fighting on the eastern front has intensified in recent weeks. It appears that Russia, after suffering losses near the city of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, is now seeking to reorganize its forces before further attacks. Behind the scenes - heating the background and the critical region of Ukraine. The United States imposed 130 new sanctions aimed at "countering the Russian war machine."