Europe cannot be a full-scale European Union without Ukraine's participation.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this in Kyiv on Friday during the 11th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy (YES), Ukrinform's correspondent reported.
"I personally believe that Europe cannot simply be the European Union without Ukraine," he said.
He said that this was related to a large territory and population of Ukraine and the fact that Europe "will enrich itself" from the economic, political, social and cultural points of view.
In addition, "defining Ukraine as a European state will make Europe stronger from the security point of view," Poroshenko said.
He also recalled that Tuesday, September 16, would be "one of the most important moments" for Ukraine - the vote on the ratification of the Association Agreement with the EU.
According to Poroshenko, EU leaders also show that Ukraine is now their top priority.