The road infrastructure, the logistics and transport sector must be rebuilt in such a way that it is easy for Ukraine to relate to the EU, Scholz said when speaking at the 5th Germany-Ukraine Economic Forum in this capital.

Anyone who invests now in the restoration of the Ukrainian infrastructure is doing so in a future member country of the European Union, the German statesman said, although his position is far from having a consensus within this regional organization.

The federal chancellor also urged Ukrainian authorities to make efforts to achieve greater transparency and better conditions for investments and an increase in the fight against corruption.

A provision by Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, signed on February 28, referred to a formal request to start the process of joining the EU, a step that several leaders of that bloc considered a distant possibility.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of a special military operation in Ukraine, to meet a request from the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk to protect their population, as well as to demilitarize that country.

The West then unleashed an economic war against Russia that included more than 10,000 unilateral punitive measures.

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