"The Ukrainian president [Petro Poroshenko] made a very strong plea for the visa liberalization, which we support from the commission," Malmstrom said of the recent EU-Ukraine talks on Wednesday.
Malmstrom, who attended the Monday talks between EU and Ukrainian leaders in Brussels, explained that the final creation of the visa-free regime "is in the hands of member states now."
Creating a visa-free regime among countries in the Schengen zone depends on approval by the European Parliament as well as each EU member state.
In December 2015, the European Commission gave a positive assessment of Ukraine successfully meeting all benchmark requirements necessary for the liberalization of the visa regime with the Schengen zone.
Malmstrom also said that the informal meetings between EU and Ukrainian leaders earlier this week assessed the status of the parties’ association agreement.
"We took stock about where we were. There were a few questions, [we] discussed a little bit of where we are in the DCFTA [Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement]," Malmstrom said on Wednesday.
"There will be a formal summit a bit later, probably in the fall," Malmstrom noted.
