EU says door remains open for Ukraine, not for political leaders

European Union leaders said Friday the door to a closer partnership with Ukraine remained open but not necessarily for the current Ukrainian leadership, which chose a bailout from Russia in preference to a trade deal with Brussels.

EU leaders held a post-mortem on Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich’s last-minute U-turn, which dashed the bloc’s ambition to draw a giant eastern neighbor into its orbit by offering a trade and aid pact to the former Soviet republic.

“Europe is open for Ukrainian people but not necessarily for this government. That’s the message,” said Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, who hosted a summit in Vilnius last month at which Yanukovich spurned an association agreement with the EU.