Ukraine will not be able to become a member of the European Union as long as there are Russian troops on its territory.

"No, it's impossible. But the whole idea is for Ukraine to come out of this conflict as victorious, sovereign, independent, free and able to make that choice itself. And I think that Ukraine is fighting to make this happen. The European Union should support Ukraine in achieving this goal," Frans Timmermans, European Commission Vice-President, said when asked whether Ukraine can become a member of the EU if there are Russian military personnel in the country, as German news outlet Deutsche Welle reports.

As the European Commission pointed out, when Ukraine received the official candidate status for EU membership, it needed to fulfil the Copenhagen criteria - the conditions for joining the EU - adopted in 1993. Among them are the presence of stable state institutions, a functioning market economy and the ability to effectively fulfil EU membership obligations.

In addition, the European Commission has formulated seven conditions that Kyiv must fulfil on the way to membership of the European Union. These are judicial reforms, the fight against corruption, deoligarchization and policies towards national minorities.

It should be noted that opening accession negotiations (after which Ukraine will need to adapt its legislation to European law for 35 negotiation chapters, "closing" them one by one) is technically impossible before autumn 2023. 

As previously reported, the majority of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine may become a member of the European Union in the coming years.