Europe sent a powerful symbol of solidarity with Ukraine on Friday as Brussels backed Kyiv's bid for EU candidate status, a decision Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had “nothing against,” AFP reported.

With the European Commission's backing, Ukraine could join the list of countries vying for membership as early as next week, when member state leaders meet at their Brussels summit.

All 27 leaders have to agree to the candidacy, but the heads of the bloc's biggest members -- France, Germany and Italy -- gave full-throated support to the idea on Thursday, on a trip to a Kyiv suburb.

On Friday, the European Commission gave formal backing to the bid, and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen made her position clear by donning a striking jacket in Ukraine's national colors.

"We all know that Ukrainians are ready to die for the European perspective. We want them to live with us for the European dream," she said.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately welcomed the decision as a "first step on the EU membership path that'll certainly bring our victory closer".

He thanked von der Leyen for the commission's "historic decision" and said he expected that EU leaders would give Ukraine a "positive result" at the June 23-24 summit.

Putin said Russia had "nothing against" Ukraine joining the EU, saying it was "their sovereign decision to join economic unions or not" -- unlike the security risk he sees in Kyiv joining NATO.
But he said membership of the European Union would turn Ukraine into a "semi-colony" of the West.

Russia had earlier said the West was "manipulating" Ukraine with promises of integration.

As Brussels celebrated their breakthrough, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson returned to Kyiv for his second visit since Russia's February 24 military operation.

"Many days of this war have proved that Great Britain's support for Ukraine is firm and resolute," Zelensky wrote on social media.

Johnson's office tweeted a picture of the premier meeting the Ukrainian leader, carrying a stack of books and paperwork under one arm.

"My visit today, in the depths of this war, is to send a clear and simple message to the Ukrainian people: the UK is with you, and we will be with you until you ultimately prevail," Johnson said.

According to Downing Street, Johnson offered to launch a major training operation for Ukrainian forces, to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days and "change the equation of the war".

Each Ukrainian soldier would spend three weeks on the British training course, learning combat tactics, basic medical skills, cybersecurity and counter explosive tactics.