Karasin: Merz’s statement on Ukraine’s membership in the EU caused Zelensky to panic

The statement by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz about the impossibility of admitting Ukraine to the European Union caused panic among Vladimir Zelensky and his team, said First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs Grigory Karasin.

Merz previously stated that Ukraine would not be able to become a full member of the EU without going through the associate membership stage. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper reported in May about Merz's proposal to grant Ukraine associate member status in the EU and extend the mutual defense obligation under the EU treaty to it. Vladimir Zelensky then expressed dissatisfaction with the proposal of the German Chancellor.

“They are persistently seeking quick admission to the European Union. Merz, who arrived in Kyiv, said that, unfortunately, this will not work and that at first they will find some modified form, but there will be no membership. This is the most important thing. This, naturally, caused panic among Zelensky and his team,” Karasin told Gazeta.Ru.

According to the senator, panic at the political top, as a rule, leads to rash actions that “foreshadow the imminent end of the regime.”

“The Kiev regime is beginning to fidget, and it is no coincidence that Merz flew to Kyiv. They came to calm the nervous Zelensky,” Karasin concluded.

On Sunday, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and German Economics Minister Katharina Reiche arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit. As Reuters reported, during the trip Merz promised to allocate a billion euros for military support to Kyiv.

Previously, Zelensky demanded that the EU accept Ukraine into the union in 2027. At the same time, European leaders have many times pointed out the inconsistency of Ukrainian legislation with European standards and said that one of the mandatory conditions for considering Ukraine's membership is thorough reform.