In a pact signed today, Ukraine strengthened ties with the European Union, a move that Russia had strongly opposed as a threat to its economic and political influence over the former Soviet republic. Ukrainian President Poroshenko signed the agreement to establish closer economic and trade ties to Europe, saying, “The signature of this agreement signifies new investment, new rules without corruption and new markets, the biggest market in the world."
The economic and trade pact doesn't make Ukraine (or Moldova or Georgia, which also signed similar pacts with the EU) part of the European Union, but it does signify that these nations see their future with an economically-integrated Europe, and not with the Russian Federation.
