France, Germany, Italy and Romania are all in favour of Ukraine receiving "immediate" official candidate status to join the European Union, French President Emmanuel Macron said in Kyiv today.
"All four of us support the status of immediate candidate for accession," he said at a joint press conference with Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Italian premier Mario Draghi and Romanian leader Klaus Iohannis who all arrived by train in the Ukrainian capital earlier today.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met the EU leaders in Kyiv and said afterwards that Ukraine was "ready to work to become full EU member".
Germany will continue to provide military support to Ukraine for as long as necessary, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, amid criticism over Berlin's relatively slow response on sending armaments.
"We are supporting Ukraine with the deliveries of weapons. We will keep doing that for as long as it is needed," he said.
Earlier, the leaders visited Irpin in the suburbs of Kyiv where President Macron commented: "It's a heroic city, marked by the stigmata of barbarism."
Mario Draghi said infrastructure damaged and destroyed by invading Russian forces would be rebuilt.
"We will rebuild everything. They destroyed kindergartens, they destroyed playgrounds. Everything will be rebuilt," he told journalists.
Irpin, like Bucha before it, has become a symbol of the "cruelty" of Russia's war in Ukraine and its senseless violence, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, adding that the war must end.
The European leaders, dressed in suits but not wearing any visible protective equipment, were surrounded by heavily armed soldiers.
Noting graffiti on a wall that read "Make Europe, not war", Mr Macron said: "It's very moving to see that. This is the right message."
The visit had taken weeks to organise, while the three most powerful EU leaders all fended off criticism over positions described as too deferential to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Still, the move by the three to travel together held strong symbolism at a pivotal moment - a day before the EU's executive commission is expected to recommend pushing forward with Ukraine's bid to join the bloc, which EU leaders are expected to endorse at a summit next week.
NATO defence ministers were also meeting in Brussels, expected to announce more promises of weapons for Kyiv.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian officials said their troops were still holding out against massive Russian bombardment in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, and described new progress in a counteroffensive in the south.
But they said battles on both main fronts depended on receiving more aid from the West, especially artillery to counter Russia's big advantage in firepower.
"Every day, I struggle for Ukraine to get the weapons and equipment it needs," President Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation.
Yesterday, the US announced $1 billion worth of new arms for Ukrainian forces. This will include anti-ship rocket systems, artillery rockets and rounds for howitzers.
Ukraine is taking hundreds of casualties per day as the war has entered a brutal attritional phase in the east.
Kyiv says it urgently needs more weapons, especially artillery and rockets to counter Russia's firepower advantage.
The main battle in recent weeks has been over the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk, where Ukrainian forces are now holed up in a chemical factory with hundreds of civilians. They ignored a Russian order to surrender yesterday.
"There were battles during the night. Our guys are holding the line of defence. Every day it becomes more and more difficult because the Russians are pulling more and more weapons into the city, and trying to storm it from several directions," Sievierodonetsk mayor Oleksandr Stryuk said today.
All remaining bridges linking the city with Ukrainian-held territory on the opposite bank of Siverskyi Donets river were destroyed in recent days, but Ukrainian officials say the garrison is still not completely cut-off.
An airstrike today hit a building sheltering civilians in Lysychansk, on the other side of the river, killing at least three and wounding at least seven according to local governor Serhiy Gaidai.
"We are pulling apart the rubble," Mr Gaidai said on Telegram. In the south, Ukraine says its forces have been making inroads into Kherson province, which Russia occupied early inits invasion.
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There has been little independent reporting to confirm battlefield positions in the area.
Mr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, tweeted that he had visited an area just 3-4 km from Russian positions, where dozens of "ghost villages" were depopulated by the combat.
"Our guys on the ground - the mood is fighting. Even with limited resources, we are pushing back the enemy. One thing is missing - long-range weapons.
"In any case, we will throw them out of the south," he wrote.
The war has caused global economic disruption and surging prices for food and energy. Despite sanctions, Europe still depends on Russia for natural gas.
Deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany have declined in recent days, raising concern about storing supplies for winter, with Moscow blaming sanctions that have held up delivery of equipment sent abroad for repair.
