Seiji Kihara, Deputy Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan, said that “Japan supports the decision of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for membership in the European Union,” adding: “We believe that the EU countries have shown Solidarity with Ukraine, which all there is still a Russian military operation ahead, as well as with Moldova, which hosts a large number of refugees, and we welcome this decision.”

In his statement, he stressed “the importance of achieving an early end to the Russian operation, which at this stage is necessary for the continued support of Ukraine by the entire international community.”

For his part, President of the European Council Charles Michel pointed out that “at the summit in Brussels yesterday, on Thursday, the heads of state and government of the European Union agreed to grant Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for joining the Union. “Achieving candidate status is only the beginning of a rather long road to EU membership. Turkey has been a candidate since 1999, North Macedonia since 2005, Montenegro since 2010 and Serbia since 2012. Croatia was the last country to join the European Union in 2013 year, and this process took ten years.