EU chief says bloc wants Ukraine as member

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The European Union’s chief executive on Sunday expressed unequivocal support for Ukraine becoming a member of the bloc, calling the country now under attack from Russia “one of us.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made her comments to Euronews in an interview hours after the 27-nation EU decided for the first time in its history to supply weapons to a country at war. A source told Reuters it would send 450 million euros ($507 million) of weaponry to Ukraine. “Indeed over time, they belong to us. They are one of us and we want them in,” von der Leyen told Euronews.

Ukraine, a democratic nation of 44 million people, won independence from Moscow in 1991 at the fall of the Soviet Union and has pushed to join the NATO Western military alliance and the EU, goals Russia vehemently opposes. Less than four days after it started, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered a Western political, strategic, economic and corporate response unprecedented in its extent and coordination.