EU pledges to Ukraine, but no quick green light

Further price caps

On Saturday the EU, the G7 and several other partners adopted further price caps for seaborne Russian petroleum products, such as diesel and fuel oil, in an effort to hit Russia's revenues. The measures came after a price cap for Russian crude oil in December and a day before the EU's full ban on importing seaborne Russian crude oil and petroleum products into the EU on Sunday.

Russia condemned the summit in Kyiv.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, called the EU's readiness to provide further support to Ukraine while calling for peace "equally hypocritical", saying all of the EU's military deliveries and financial support for Kyiv result in "an increase in the number of victims of the conflict, including those among the civilian population", the Anadolu Agency reported.

"It is in vain that the West is trying to do all this," the ministry quoted her as saying. "The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will achieve all the goals and objectives of the special military operation."

He Zhigao, a researcher at the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, described the summit in Kyiv as more symbolism than substance.

While the summit demonstrates the EU's firm support for Ukraine, the bloc will not just turn on the green light when it comes to membership, He said.

"While the EU will continue to provide comfort and support to Ukraine regarding the accession, it will also have to avoid disappointing the Balkan states that are in the process of joining the EU in order not to endanger the whole European project."

In addition to Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Turkiye have been granted candidate status.