The leaders of Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine met with European Council President Charles Michel for a "milestone" summit to discuss the former Soviet republics' ambition to join the European Union.

The three countries teamed up to form the "Associated Trio" in May in order to strengthen their membership bids, which are expected to be formally made in 2024 to then join during the 2030s.

"Our meeting here with you is an important milestone," Michel told Georgia's President Salome Zurabishvili, Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of the summit in the Georgian Black Sea city of Batumi.

The three Eastern European countries have been seeking closer EU ties for the past few years.

In 2014, their leaders signed Association Agreements with the EU, which granted their citizens visa-free entry to the Schengen area while promising political transformation, trade liberalization and a liberal reform of their justice system in order to conform to European democratic standards.

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"We have shared aspirations, a common vision of our future – our full membership in the EU, equality, freedom and democracy," said Ukraine's Zelensky.

"I am confident that together we will reach that goal and will celebrate together when the three sisters of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova will join the European family."

Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine's path towards European integration is seen as an attempt by the three countries to distance themselves from the influence of Russia.

The three other members of the EU's "Eastern Partnership" have so far not expressed the same desire – Belarus is part of the Russia-led Eurasian economic Union, which Armenia joined in 2015, while Azerbaijan doesn't seem interested in getting closer to either Brussels or Moscow.

Michel visited Armenia on Saturday and Azerbaijan on Sunday, in an attempt to be a mediator between the two countries after the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict last fall sparked tensions between the two neighbors.