President Volodymyr Zelensky met European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the sidelines of the G7 summit to discuss Ukraine’s next steps toward EU membership, financial support and tougher sanctions against Russia. According to the President’s Office, Zelensky thanked the European Union for opening the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova, calling it an important step in support of Ukraine and “a strong and clear signal” to Russia and its efforts to divide Europe.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The EU and Ukraine opened negotiations on the “fundamentals” cluster on Monday, a key stage in the accession process covering rule of law, fundamental rights, democratic institutions, public administration reform and economic criteria. During the meeting, the leaders discussed the timeline for opening the remaining five negotiation clusters and further steps on Ukraine’s European integration path, according to the Ukrainian presidential readout. They also discussed implementation of a financial support package and preparations for the first tranche. Kyiv expects to receive the funds this month and use them to strengthen Ukraine’s defense against Russian aggression. A separate part of the meeting focused on tightening sanctions against Moscow. Zelensky, Costa and von der Leyen discussed the EU’s proposed 21st sanctions package, which targets Russia’s energy sector, trade, financial services and cryptocurrency networks.