Russia sees threat in Ukraine's EU bid

Russia sees the prospect of Ukraine's membership of the European Union as the equivalent of its joining NATO, a senior Russian diplomat at the United Nations said on Thursday.

The Financial Times earlier reported that Moscow had indicated, during cease-fire talks in March, that it was not opposed to Ukraine joining the EU.

The Kremlin has long been outspoken in its criticism of NATO, stating that Ukraine's association with the Western military alliance was a direct threat to Russian security.

"Our position on the European Union now is more similar to NATO because we don't see a big difference," said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's first deputy UN representative.

The European Commission is expected to decide whether to grant Ukraine candidate status next month.

Polyansky said Moscow's stance changed when top EU diplomat Josep Borrell asserted that the Russia-Ukraine conflict "will be won on the battlefield" during a visit to Ukraine last month.

On Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed the hope that the EU would soon approve Ukraine's application to start the process of joining the bloc.

Kuleba, who was invited to join the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in northern Germany on Thursday, said he considered it a "signal of strength" that Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party had dropped its opposition to providing Ukraine with heavy weapons.

Aside from the actions taken by Western countries, Japan has expanded the list of goods and technologies that it has banned for export to Russia, the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on economic issues that the culpability for the global consequences of sanctions against Russia, including possible hunger in a number of countries, rests with Western countries. In their pursuit of domination, they are ready to sacrifice the rest of the world, he said.

In military developments, Ukraine said it had damaged a Russian navy logistics ship near Snake Island, a small but strategic outpost in the Black Sea, Reuters reported.

"Thanks to the actions of our naval seamen, the support vessel Vsevolod Bobrov caught fire－it is one of the newest in the Russian fleet," said Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa regional military administration.

Russia's defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

renqi@chinadaily.com.cn