On Tuesday, 9 January, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a telephone conversation with Alexander De Croo, Prime Minister of Belgium, who holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2024.

The Belgian prime minister noted that his conversation with Zelenskyy took place before the EU summit on 1 February, where a decision on a four-year, EUR 50 billion programme to support Ukraine is expected to be made.

"The EU will further scale up its support to Ukraine. We will continue bringing our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses on its accession path. We stand with you, now and in the future," he wrote on Twitter (X).

The EU will further scale up its support to #Ukraine ⁰⁰Talked with President @ZelenskyyUa ahead of #EUCO on the way forward.

We will continue bringing our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses on its accession path.

We stand with you, now and in the future.

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— Alexander De Croo 🇧🇪🇪🇺 (@alexanderdecroo) January 9, 2024

The President's Office reported that Zelenskyy and De Croo discussed support for Ukraine in the context of the Belgian presidency of the EU Council, bilateral defence cooperation, and the implementation of the Ukrainian Peace Formula.

As reported, Belgium took over the six-month presidency of the Council of the European Union from Spain on 1 January 2024.

It was previously discussed at the level of the Belgian and Ukrainian foreign ministers that Ukraine's EU membership will be among the priorities during this period.