EU ready to open the first chapters for Kiev's accession in June

The European Commission is moving towards proposing the opening of the first group of negotiating chapters, or 'cluster', on Ukraine's accession to the General Affairs Council on 16 June. The meeting precedes the EU leaders' summit on 18-19 June, which will be able to comment on the proposal. This is according to several sources in Brussels. According to the European portal Euractiv.com, there will be a proposal to open the first 'cluster' for Moldova as well. Also contributing to the acceleration was the arrival of Peter Magyar as head of the Budapest government. A meeting between Magyar and Volodymyr Zelensky could be scheduled for early June.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has sent a letter to US President Donald Trump warning him of Ukraine's worsening air defence system deficiency, particularly with regard to ballistic missile defence capabilities. "When it comes to air defence against missiles, we rely on our friends," reads the letter, viewed by the Kyiv Independent, "when it comes to defence against ballistic missiles, we rely almost exclusively on the US."

"The current pace of delivery through the PURL programme is no longer keeping pace with the real threat we face," the letter continues, "I ask for your help in protecting the skies of Ukraine from Russian missiles." "On behalf of the Ukrainian people, I respectfully ask the President and Congress of the United States to remain engaged," Zelensky writes, "and to help us protect this vital tool of defence against Russian terrorism: the Patriot PAC-3 missiles and additional systems, to stop Russian ballistic missiles and other Russian missile attacks." "It's really difficult when it comes to anti-ballistic defence," added an official with knowledge of the facts, according to which the Ukrainian ambassador to the US, Olha Stefanishyna, delivered the letter to the White House, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other members of Congress.

"We are in favour of starting a path to bring Ukraine into the European Union, but we must not forget that there are other candidate countries. For us, the priority is the Balkans, on the understanding that Ukraine and Moldova must start a path, they must also fight corruption, they must respect the rules to be part of the European Union. We are ready to do our part to help them'. This was said by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaking to journalists in Limassol.

"An air alert was declared in the evening throughout Ukraine due to the take-off of a MiG-31K". This was announced by the Air Force, Ukrainska Pravda writes.