EU to decide on Ukraine's bid

KYIV: The European Commission will provide a clear signal next week on Ukraine's European Union candidate status bid, its chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday (Sunday in Manila), as fighting raged in the east and south of the country.

Making a surprise visit to Kyiv, von der Leyen said talks she held with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy "will enable us to finalize our assessment by the end of next week" — the first time the bloc has publicly given a sense of timing.