Zelensky again calls for granting Ukraine EU candidate country status

MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - Ukraine should be provided with fundamental value-based support and receive European Union candidate country status, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address to the Czech parliament via videoconference on Wednesday.

"We should receive an answer from the European Union, all of its member states, to the question regarding Ukraine's status," Ukrainian media quoted Zelensky as saying in his address.

"Granting Ukraine candidate status precisely now would mean proving that the European association is real and that European values do work rather than have been declared merely as a nice formality," he said.

"Therefore, I am asking you to be as active as you can precisely these days so that all European leaders agree that defending and strengthening Europe is our common cause," Zelensky said.

Zelensky said he believed the Czech Republic would be among the leaders in a project of Ukraine's reconstruction.

"I believe that the Czech Republic will also be among the leaders in implementing a major economic and infrastructural project of our time, Ukrainian renewal," he said.

He emphasized the importance of "the full synchronization of the Ukrainian national Reconstruction Plan and the European Reconstruction Platform to implement them with utmost quality and speed."

"I am also inviting you to join Ukraine's reconstruction at the national level by taking charge of one of our regions, or cities, or communities," he said.