Ukraine plans to join the EU in the next two years, the country's prime minister said on Monday.
"We have a very ambitious plan to join the EU within the next two years," Denys Shmyhal said in an article published on the website Politico.eu .
Shmyhal said Ukraine expected the pre-accession stage of negotiations to begin within 2023.
Kyiv officially applied for EU membership on Feb. 28, 2022, four days after the start of the war with Russia that Moscow calls a "special military operation."
The European Commission issued its opinion on the application of Ukraine's EU membership on June 17 last year, after which the European Council granted Kyiv candidate status.
Last December, Ukraine's parliament adopted several bills recommended by the European Commission to further the country's EU accession process.
