President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has asked for immediate EU membership as his country continues to fight Russian invaders.
The Government there reports dozens of people have been killed in heavy shelling in the second city of Kharkiv.
Micheál Martin has said he supports fast tracked EU membership for Ukraine but admitted it won't happen immediately:
"We in this parts of the world don't have that acute sense of anxiety and fear that those who've had these experiences in the past have, and I think the most effective way to deal with that is through what we call the European perspective; accelerating the process of membership directly. I don't know when it can be done immediately, but I certainly would be a proponent and supporter of accelerating it and making it very clear that they can become members of the European Union."
