UPDATE - European leaders back EU candidacy for Ukraine, Macron says

UPDATES WITH FRENCH PRESIDENT'S REMARKS IN JOINT NEWS CONFERENCE, EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Ahmet Gencturk, Cindi Cook

ANKARA/PARIS (AA) - We support EU candidate status for Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron said in Kyiv as he addressed a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Thursday.

The four European leaders traveled to Kyiv to show their support to Ukraine and its leader for the first time since Russia’s war that began late February.

"We all four support the immediate EU candidate status," state-run broadcaster France 24 quoted Macron as saying.

He, however, added that “this (candidate) status (of Ukraine) will be accompanied by a roadmap and will also involve taking into account the situation in the Balkans and the neighboring area, notably Moldova.

Only four days after Russia launched a war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, Zelenskyy officially signed his country's request to join the EU.

The European Commission is currently assessing the questionnaire that Ukraine completed and returned in April, and a formal opinion is expected to be delivered later this month.

But key European nations have warned that membership could take years or even decades.

Macron said France will deliver six additional Caesar long-range self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine to help it fight Russian forces.

Before heading to the Ukrainian capital, the leaders visited the nearby town of Irpin, which is said to be of the main hotspots of fighting with Russian troops before they pulled back.

Macron praised the heroism of Ukrainians as they fought off the Russians from getting too close to the capital.

“It’s here, among other places, that the Ukrainians stopped the Russian army descending onto Kyiv. It represents the heroism of the army, but also of the Ukrainian population. And alongside that, you have traces of barbarism,” he said in Irpin.