European Commission recommends Ukraine as a candidate for membership

Ukraine is one step closer to joining the European Union after the European Commission recommended that the country should be granted candidate status.

It is the first step in a long process to becoming a member of the EU.

The decision comes a day after French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian prime minister Mario Draghi and Romanian president Klaus Iohannis vowed to back Ukraine's bid following a visit to the country's capital Kyiv.

Click here to sign up to our newsletters.