Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko declares that Russia, being an aggressor state, does not have and will not have a veto on Ukraine's accession to NATO or the European Union.
According to an UNIAN correspondent, Poroshenko made the statement during a Verkhovna Rada meeting, where a bill was considered in the first reading on fixing in the Constitution Ukraine's strategic course to acquire full-fledged membership in the EU and NATO.
Read alsoRada passes in first reading change in Constitution on Ukraine's path to EU, NATO
"By fixing in the Constitution the obligatory course towards joining NATO and the European Union, we are sending a message to Moscow: we are parting completely and irrevocably," the president said in his address. "Russia, being an aggressor state, does not have and will not have a veto on our accession to either NATO or the European Union."
Poroshenko stressed that this is the sovereign right of Ukraine as a country, "which confidently walks its own path."
"We will not ask anyone's permission," the president assured.
