BRUSSELS - Ukraine is making "impressive" progress on the path to European integration, a process for which there is "no rigid timeline", European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.

"The Commission is working very closely with the Ukrainian government (...) There is no rigid timeline, it is a merit-based process", von der Leyen said during a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European Council President Charles Michel.

Von der Leyen also said the big goal was to show the progress Ukraine, which was given membership candidate status last June, made in reforms for the enlargement report due next fall.

(Reporting by Marine Strauss and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Bart Meijer)