A small group of Ukrainian journalists and European Council’s protocol staff were the only ones to meet Petro Poroshenko upon arrival to the council’s headquarters in Brussels. His Monday meeting with the president of the European Parliament Martin Schulz was rescheduled, and instead of announced photo-op with the European Council President Donald Tusk, Poroshenko rushed inside ignoring questions from Ukrainian TV journalists.
It was announced that Tusk will be late for the EU-Ukraine talks due to changes in his schedule caused by a series of meetings dedicated to Brexit. But in reality the delay was very short. President Tusk arrived exactly 15 minutes after Poroshenko and spent some time talking to his own staff in the hallway.
Ukrainian authorities are pushing towards visa-free regime for the country with Schengen member states and extension of EU sanctions against Russia.
According to Politico citing Playbook's EU sources, Petro Poroshenko wanted to attend EU leaders' summit after the EU-Ukraine talks, but, apparently, it looks like he won't be welcome there.
The European Council meeting will be held on June 28-29. It will be mostly devoted to the outcome of the UK referendum.
