Ukraine expects to join the European Union (EU) within the next two years, but there such a plan is unrealistic. On January 30, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal of the country told the Politico newspaper.

«We hope that this year we can already have preliminary negotiations,» he said.

According to the publication, the topic of the country’s accession to the EU will be one of the key issues at the EU—Ukraine summit, which will be held on February 3.

Shmygal hopes that during the meeting Kiev will be able to achieve, in particular, progress on the agreement on the suspension of customs duties for a year and the inclusion of the country in the EU mobile roaming zone.

At the same time, according to the newspaper, the Ukrainian plan to join the EU is a problem and is not considered realistic. Sources of the publication indicate that Ukraine at least needs to fulfill all the conditions set by the European Commission. Many countries are also convinced that Kiev can become an excessive burden on the European budget.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed an application for the country’s accession to the EU on February 28, 2022. In April, Kiev handed over to the European Union the completed second part of the questionnaire for obtaining candidate status.

In June, the European Council agreed on the status of candidates for the European Union for Ukraine and Moldova. The decision was made by the heads of state and government of the 27 EU countries at the summit in Brussels.

In December, it was reported that the Verkhovna Rada adopted all the bills that are necessary for the country to implement the recommendations of the EC to grant Ukraine the status of a candidate for EU membership. Among them, in particular, was a bill on the reform of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

However, European Commissioner Oliver Varheli said that Ukraine will need more than a year or two to prepare for EU accession.

In turn, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, admitted that by the time Kiev fulfills all the requirements of the European Union, the association may well cease to exist.