Ukraine started negotiations with the European Union on joining the bloc on Tuesday, an important ambition of the country defending against a full-scale invasion from Russia.
"The road will be long and [...] will not always be an easy one," Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib said afterwards on behalf of the EU in a press conference.
"But with unwavering determination, we are confident Ukraine can make it," she said.
Marking the symbolic importance of the EU talks for Ukraine, Lahbib paid tribute to the memory of Ukrainian demonstrators shot 10 years ago during pro-Western protests on Kiev's Maidan Square in 2014.
"We remember what Ukraine has endured since that day," she said.
Ukraine's "historic day"
Representatives from the EU and Ukraine met in Luxembourg to officially open the talks on the sidelines of a meeting of EU affairs ministers.
The process does not get underway for a few months and is set to last years but opening talks is an important show of EU support. Ukraine is unable to join the bloc while at war with Russia.
Moldova started their own membership negotiations a few hours later on Tuesday.
Earlier to open the talks, Lahbib said the negotiations were going to be "rigorous and demanding."
Joining the EU is a symbol that "thousands of the best sons and daughters of Ukraine have given their lives for," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the opening session via video link.
The EU presented the guidelines and principles for the negotiations to the two candidate countries. Substantive talks can then begin within the next twelve months, EU diplomats said.
EU symbol of hope for Ukraine
Until then the European Commission is still carrying out an important process called "screening." This examines the extent to which the national law of the candidate countries deviates from EU law.
Ukraine applied for EU membership after Russia's full-scale invasion of the former in February 2022. Moldova also applied at the same time.
Moldova, like its larger neighbour Ukraine, has a breakaway region called Transnistria that aligns itself with Russia.
For Ukraine, the opening of EU accession negotiations is an important symbol of defiance and motivation to continue their defence against Russia.
"Today is a historic day as we proceed to actual, real negotiations," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
"I am grateful to everyone who defends Ukraine, our country and people. I am grateful to the team that is doing everything to make us part of the European Union," he said.
Long road ahead for Ukraine
But the start of talks does not mean Ukraine and Moldova will be joining the EU any time soon: every step of the process requires unanimous agreement among current member states, and several other countries have been waiting far longer.
EU leaders formally recognized Ukraine and Moldova as candidates for membership one year ago, in June 2023.
They granted candidate status to Georgia in December 2023, at the same time as agreeing to open talks with Ukraine and Moldova.
The other official candidates are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkey.
The last country to be admitted to the EU was Croatia, which joined in 2013. Romania and Bulgaria joined in 2007 and 10 countries joined in 2004.
