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It has now been four months since Vladimir Putin sent Russian forces across the border into Ukraine, triggering the biggest conflict in Europe since the end of World War Two. Fighting continues to rage in the eastern Donbas region, where Putin laid claim to two independent proxy states in February - the Luhansk and Donetsk people's republics. Looking to avoid encirclement, Ukraine early Friday ordered its troops to withdraw from their remaining foothold in Severodonetsk, a key city of 100,000 that served as the administrative center of Ukrainian-controlled parts of Luhansk.
Snapshot: While Ukraine still holds more than a third of the Donetsk region, including the cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, a capture of Severodonetsk and neighboring Lysychansk would prompt Moscow to announce the full "liberation" of at least one of the two people's republics. Putin shifted military efforts there following setbacks in seizing Kyiv, and a failed attempt to install a pro-Russian government in the Ukrainian capital. Moscow also continues most of the country's southern regions as it seeks to form a land bridge between mainland Russia and the Crimean Peninsula.
As the war drags out, Ukraine is beseeching Western nations for heavy weapons, but is also angling for stronger ties with the European Union to "preserve its freedom and unity." EU leaders last night granted "candidate status" to Ukraine and Moldova (another former Soviet state), paving the way for the two countries to potentially join the bloc. "It is a decision for freedom and democracy and puts us on the right side of history," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said before the final decision.
Next steps: Joining the EU is a process that usually takes years, or even decades, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping to fast-track the negotiations. Countries have to meet strict criteria, from economic stability and a functioning market economy to rooting out corruption and respecting human rights. The most recent nation to join the EU was Croatia in 2013, which took nine years to move from candidate status to membership upon getting approval from all 27 EU governments.