Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for his country to be given European Union membership, in light of the Russian invasion.

"It is a crucial moment to close the long-standing discussion once and for all and decide on Ukraine's membership in the EU," Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter on Saturday.

Zelenskyy said he had discussed "further effective assistance" as well as "the heroic struggle of Ukrainians for their free future" with European Council President Charles Michel.

The EU does not list Ukraine as an official candidate country or a potential candidate. In the past, there has been concern that taking such a step would harm the EU-Russia relationship.

Ukraine’s 2014 revolution was sparked by almost three months of protests on Kyiv's Maidan square, against the suspension of the signing of the Ukraine-European Union Association Agreement.

It eventually toppled pro-Russian former President Viktor Yanukovych. Russia then seized the Crimean Peninsula and war broke out in eastern Ukraine.