KYIV. Feb 19 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has called the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine irreversible and pledged to apply for admission to the European Union and to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan by 2023.
"It is my strategic mission to guarantee the irreversible European and Euro-Atlantic integration. To apply for joining the EU and to receive a NATO Membership Action Plan by 2023. This is our common task," Poroshenko said at a special meeting of the Verkhovna Rada on Tuesday.
Ukraine has paid a lot for its European choice, Poroshenko said. He mentioned the neutral status of Ukraine and said it had resulted in the loss of Crimea and part of Donbas. "The most horrid price is thousands of human lives: 2,949 soldiers sacrificed their lives so that we could modify our country," he said.