"We are striving for Europe to choose for Ukraine," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Tuesday, as reported by Reuters.

"We are fighting to be equal members of Europe," Zelenskyy added. "Ukraine is giving away its best people for the desire to be treated as equals."

Market reaction

Markets remain risk-averse during the European trading hours on Tuesday following these remarks. As of writing, S&P futures were down 0.8% on the day, the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond yield was losing more than 5% at 1.73 and the US Dollar Index was rising 0.2% at 96.95.