European citizens can only hope that they will not wake up one day to find that the big and influential members of NATO have decided to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance the very next day. There has been a lot of news and information about Ukraine’s NATO membership in October – much more and…

The visions of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and that of the Head of the President’s Office Andriy Yermak about Ukraine’s prospects are greatly deverging from reality, this has become obvious during and after the recent official visit by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the United States between 22-27 September. During the visit, the Ukrainian side has…

Использованные источники:украинские издания – Зеркало недели; Евроинтеграция; Новое время; Форбс Вокс Юкрайнезарубежные издания – Politico, Bloomberg, CNN, Al Jazeera, Dolche Welle, Danas,публикации исследовательстких центров – Украинский интситут политики, Украиснкий интситут будущего, PEW Research Center

How are Ukraine’s plans for the further course of the war and the start of the heating season in the country connected? The answer is simple: in both issues, Ukraine relies entirely on its Western supporters. Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure? No big deal, the West has agreed to cover the cost of…

World champions of strategic planning. Masters of well-prepared and carefully performed political, economic and military operations. Prominent shapers of European politics. In the past, it used to be absolutely clear from these definitions which European nation it was about. Nowadays, in light of recent developments in Germany’s domestic politics and its foreign and security policy,…

Over the past few days, many analysts have been trying to understand what might be the point of the goverment reshuffle carried out by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in early September, and all have concluded that the most likely explanation is a ‘facelift’ in the cabinet. Autumn will be critical and ’Ukraine needs to improve…

On 23 August – one day before Ukraine’s Independence Day -, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis announced that following the European Commission launched an investigation into the impact of Ukraine’s sanctions on Russian oil giant Lukoil and gathered information from all parties (Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Croatia) it has determined that Slovakia and Hungary’s…

Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine Andrii Yermak gave an interview to European Pravda focusing on foreign policy. As it turned out of this interview, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has become a completely unimportant person in the Ukrainian government which raises questions not only about his role and powers, but also about…

Back in June, the European Union agreed to use part of the excess profits from frozen Russian assets for military aid to Ukraine. On 26 July, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, has announced the transfer of a €1.5 billion tranche from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. She said…

In light of the latest information on Kyiv’s involvement in sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, can Ukraine still be called ’Defender of Europe’? August 2024 has proved to be a particularly hot month, not only due to record high temperatures across Europe, but also as a result of developments in the Russo-Ukrainian war,…

In recent weeks, three key figures in the Ukrainian military have publicly analysed the situation in Ukraine, each from a slightly different perspective. Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in an interview with The Guardian said, that the Kremlin’s losses are three times higher than Ukraine’s and even more on certain fronts.’It’s…

Ukraine is ready for negotiations with Russia and supports China’s position on Taiwan, the Chinese Foreign Ministry press service said in a statement on 24 July. It is also emphasised in the statement that Mr Kuleba said that Ukraine and China are strategic and important economic and trade partners, and that he ’supports China’s position…

According to President Zelenskyy, 25 June marks a watershed moment in Ukraine’s history as it enters into genuine membership negotiations with the European Union. ’We will never be derailed from our path to a united Europe, to our common home of all European nations. A home that must be peaceful!’, he concluded in his statement…

’Ukrinform, one of Ukraine’s two state news medias, finds itself in the center of a scandal that brings back memories of an era of state censorship and media seizure, raising concerns for Ukrainian media freedom’, EuroMaidan Press assessed in its article on 30 May. According to media reports, Ukrinform’s former director general, Oleksii Matsuka allegedly…

Brussels officials insist on starting official negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union as early as June, POLITICO reported adding that, intensive work is allegedly underway to persuade the Hungarian government to agree on such a decision. On the request of Budapest, Ukraine is negotiating with Hungary to resolve the problematic issues of Hungarian…

On 20 May 2024, the five-year presidential term of Volodymyr Zelenskyy ended. A few weeks before this date, Ukraine’s Justice Minister Denys Maliuska announced that President Zelenskyy will not lose his legitimacy on 21 May, and his powers will continue until the next head of state is elected. Maliuska expressed his opinion on this matter…

Following the approval of the Senate on 24 April, the United States provides Ukraine with another US$61 billion military aid. As well-known, in recent months, the United States has effectively halted the transfer of military aid to Ukraine due to opposing views in the Congress. According to media sources, the package will include vehicles, Stinger…

Journalists of investigative journalism outlet Slidstvo.Info, in particular journalist Yevheny Shulgat (27) has long been working on an investigation into the activities of Ilya Vityuk, Head of the Cyber Security Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The article of Slidstvo.Info about Vityuk was released on 4 April. According to this investigative material, in…

Shocking figures have recently been published not only as for Ukrainians who have left their fatherland due to the war, but also about a senior Ukrainian official who spent a third of the year travelling abroad. I can tell you in advance that this is not about Volodymyr Zelensky. But before we jump into a…

Corruption in the Ukrainian Armed Forces has not disappeared, as new details of an uncovered corruption case signal. In September 2023, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), in close cooperation with the Ukrainian police conducted a search of the home of a high-ranking Ukrainian military officer. According to the accusations, colonel Kozlovsky and his family had committed…

The first-ever European Defence Industrial Strategy (EDIS) at EU level was presented by the European Commission on 5 March. To the surprise of many, the new strategy envisions close involvement of Ukraine in the strategy’s programmes. Among the many measures proposed to Member States to achieve the goals set until 2030, the following proposal can…

I want to make it clear right now – I am not going to announce the winner in the war in Ukraine, this is just about the special nomination ’For the boldest statement regarding the war in Ukraine’. The second anniversary of the war in Ukraine offered an opportunity for leading politicians and other influential…

The days between 12 and 18 February 2024 were not ordinary ones, that is for sure. This 7-day period included many momentous events and developments, such as the Munich Security Conference, the death of Alexei Navalniy and, the fall of Avdiivka. Though President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described his participation in this year’s Munich…

In the run-up to the US presidential elections in November 2024, more and more political research institutes are releasing analytical materials according to which the US would prefer to continue supporting Ukraine against Russia, but only with weapons, while financial support for Ukraine would be delegated to the European Union. However, such an option does…

The Biden Administration is reportedly working on a long-term plan for supporting Kyiv that does not anticipate significant territorial gains by the Ukrainian military from Russia in 2024, The Washington Post reported 26 January. The new 10-year (!) plan will seek to de-emphasize winning back territory and instead focus on fending off new Russian advances…

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on countries to join in supporting Ukraine, as the war can be ended only by putting more pressure on Russia. ’This year must be decisive. Can freezing the war in Ukraine be its end? I don’t want to settle for the truism that…

The year 2023 could not end without another huge scandal in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. In late December, a high-ranking official of the of the Ministry of Defense was detained in Kyiv for his involvement in pocketing UAH 1.5 billion (US $ 39.6 million) intended to be used to buy artillery shells for Armed Forces…

At the gateway to EU accession, it seems to have become crucial to solve one particular problem in Ukraine, namely the issue of the use of the native language by national minorities. The importance of this issue goes far beyond a strictly language-related problem. The root cause of this issue is that according to the…

As Ukraine’s President and Defence Minister try to cope with the chaos in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the political leadership is also facing the anger of Ukrainian civilians who do not perceive the war with such enthusiasm as the Ukrainian authorities would require. In early October, the Ukrainian government received warnings from the West urging…

There is an important article hidden in the text of the latest Romanian-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreement which, in my opinion, has not received the attention it deserves in the media. In fact, this is a joint statement by Prime Ministers of Romania and Ukraine following the first meeting of the two governments on 18 October, 2023.…

Despite the fact that the below scandal received little or no media coverage in Europe, the arrest of the second person in command of the National Police of Ukraine on charges of corruption and links to Russian criminal gangs was an important story in Ukraine. Deputy Chief of Ukraine’s National Police Dmytro Tyshlek was suspended…

Disagreements over the continuation of support of Ukraine during the last meeting of the European Council on 26-27 October were so huge that I would not call them disagreements; they were almost rifts – dividing lines along which new European blocks could form. However, it should also be noted that these disagreements did not become…

From the point of view of Ukraine, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not have come at a worse time. For Russia, on the contrary, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not have come at a more appropriate time. Nevertheless, I do not advice to draw any far-reaching conclusions from these two statements. Let’s focus on the facts. Given…

While Kyiv is watching ’Ukraine fatigue’ spreading across Europe with growing concern, another potential source of danger was identified that could threaten the continuity of arms supplies to Ukraine and the external (European) support of the Ukrainian administration, namely that the so-called Ukraine card could be played with negative content during the upcoming elections in…

Background: ⦁ Earlier, the Polish government announced that Poland is likely to cut financial support for Ukrainian refugees.⦁ Three EU countries – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – introduced unilateral embargo on Ukrainian grain.⦁ Due to this unilateral embargo, Ukraine applied to the World Trade Organisation for consultation. Kyiv said that Ukraine is also ready to…

For the first time in Ukraine’s history, a representative of the Crimean Tatars became Minister of Defense. In this post, I want to draw attention to what may be the key to Rustem Umierov’s success. Briefly about his early life and career: He lived in Uzbekistan as a child. He graduated from a Crimean boarding…

After on 5 September the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine accepted the resignation of Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov due to a large-scale corruption scandal, on 6 September Rustem Umierov was appointed as new Minister of Defence of Ukraine. The newly appointed minister, a Crimean Tatar, has announced his top priorities, including a full-fledged audit, domestic defence…

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg believes that the EU should change its approach when accepting future members, such as Ukraine, Moldova or the countries of the Western Balkans. ’Enlargement is not a bureaucratic endeavour. (…) It is not about applying each comma and paragraph of the acquis communitaire. It is about exporting and safeguarding a…

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell has expressed he supported the establishment of an indicative timeframe for the accession of new members to the EU. ’Ukraine should become a member of the EU (…). I think the war in Ukraine has had the side effect of accelerating…

Before you accuse me of being addicted to news about corruption, let me be clear: I can live without corruption news, I just cannot let this issue be ignored. It has only been a couple of weeks since I published my post ’Corruption in Ukraine’s Parliament And Military Circles Returns’ and yet another corruption scandal…

Barely noticeable, but the geographical scope of the war in Ukraine has begun to shift in recent months:  Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and other major Russian cities have become almost daily. Crimea is no longer taboo for Ukrainian attacks. Recently, peaceful, calm Western Ukraine was hit by a missile strike of such force…

Details: The head of the Odesa Oblast Territorial Centre for Recruitment and Social Support (this is military enlistment office) Yevhen Borysov was dismissed from his position, because he bought real estate and cars worth millions of dollars on the Spanish coast. Illegal enrichment of Borysov was estimated about $7 million. Later the Ukrainian State Bureau…

One crucial issue seems to have been lost in the noise of all sorts of pro-Ukraine statements, as well as in the communications of the Kyiv government, namely that Ukraine, apart from extending the deadline for the introduction of new rules for mother tongue education by one year, does not intend to fully guarantee the…

It has been a little while since I shared with you my views on the latest news regarding the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipeline. In that post, I wrote about the results of a recent German investigation, which revealed that Ukraine and Poland could have been involved in carrying out this brutal…

This time, I would like to once again return to an issue which has come up several times in my blog posts: the reconstruction of Ukraine. Why do I insist on dealing with this issue? It has a concrete reason: in connection with the rebuilding of Ukraine, I have learned an expression that was completely…

When in mid-July the Kremlin announced the suspension of the Grain Deal, which ensured the safe transportation of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a tsunami of negative comments hit Russia. World leaders have immediately condemned Russia’s decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, saying, that ’Russians neglect the needs of people worldwide’.…

After Russian authorities have recognised the Azov Battalion, an elite Ukrainian armed forces unit that fought Russian troops in the port of Mariupol and Azovstal steelworks as a terrorist organisation, a show trial of 22 Azov Brigade members has started in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don. Russia has charged Ukrainian soldiers with involvement in a…

The fourth Summit of the Council of Europe held in May 22 in Reykjavik has approved a final resolution expressing political support for Ukraine’s Peace Formula. An EU summit dedicated to promoting Ukraine’s Peace Formula is scheduled for mid-July in Copenhagen. In her speech, the President of the European Commission emphasised that the basis of…

’Three months before saboteurs bombed the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Biden administration learned from a close ally that the Ukrainian military had planned a covert attack on the undersea network, using a small team of divers who reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces. Details about the plan,…

Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) uncovered large-scale corruption in the Supreme Court, namely a scheme to obtain undue benefits by the leadership and judges of the highest judicial body. As part of anti-corruption measures, the head of the Ukrainian Supreme Court, Vsevolod Knyazev was detained, while he was receiving a bribe. The National Anti-Corruption…

Much More Than a New Friendship Those interested in international affairs may observe an interesting situation in Eastern Europe, namely, that, on the on the Eastern flank of NATO, next door to war-torn Ukraine, and, most likely, under the auspices of the United States a completely new friendship is being formed between Poland and Romania,…

(An Especially Sad Easter Edition) Although the most pessimistic scenarios considering the possible consequences of the expulsion of the pro-Russian clergy from the Kyiv Cave Monastery Complex (also known as Kyiv Pechersk Lavra), fortunately, were not proved to be true, and no violent actions took place, the harassment of the Orthodox church in Ukraine remains…

Sarcastic comment of the Kremlin’s speaker Dmitry Peskov came to mind on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. ’It is better for the Ukrainians to set alarm-clocks for this time and see it for themselves’, he said on 16 February 2022, referring to the warnings of the CIA about an impending Russian…

Unfriendly steps towards national minorities have been becoming increasingly frequent in Western Ukrainian regions since Russia’s war in Ukraine began a year ago. Considering that, apparently, there are many entities that may be interested in escalating the situation all across Ukraine, thus I undertook to analyze this particular matter in my new blog post. Hungary and…

the systematic harassment of the national minorities in Ukraine continues Does Ukraine seriously want to become a member of the European Union? And does the EU really want to admit Ukraine to its members even if the fact remains that Kyiv continues the intimidation and harassment of national minorities living in Ukraine? It must be…

Ukraine has been at the top of various corruption lists in the world since the early 1990s. This means that sovereign and independent Ukraine and modern Ukrainian corruption are the same age. Later, due the European and Euro-Atlantic orientation, Ukraine has adopted high-sounding and empty communication strategies related to the fight against corruption. According to…

Given that Russia is preparing for a new wave of mobilization and missile strikes against Ukraine are continuing, it seems that there is enough potential left in Russia to continue the war against Ukraine in the long term. This means that what is going on in Ukraine, is likely to be a protracted conflict, i.e.…

I was thinking in recent days, what results have been achieved, if any, in getting closer to restoration of peace in Ukraine. Despite some moderate but promising words both on behalf of the two sides of the war and also some influential third actors, including Pope Francis, no real shift in the positions could be…

Even those who usually loudly criticize the Kyiv regime for the lack of substantial political reforms, cannot state that the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s Parliament) has not done its best in recent months to implement the recommendations of the European Commission to start the negotiations about Ukraine’s EU accession. The Parliament approved all the necessary systemic…

In his speech on the National Unity Day on November 4, Russian President Vladimir Putin talked of Ukraine’s supposed territorial disputes with Poland, Romania and Hungary, accusing the mentioned European countries of seeking ’to return the territories of Ukraine that were taken from them by Stalin after the World War II.’ Following Putin’s provocative words,…

Romania’s defense minister Vasile Dincu has resigned after he said that the war in Ukraine could only end if peace talks with Russia begin, with the involvement of the U.S. or NATO. The minister, who delivered such an opinion, stepped down due to an ’inability to collaborate’ with the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis who is…

Based on the recent events of the war between Russia and Ukraine, I must, unfortunately, conclude that both sides have switched to using the tools of terrorism. At the same time, there is a slight difference in the behavior of the two sides — while Putin admitted that in response to the attack on the Crimean bridge…

The issue of Ukrainian citizens who had to leave their homes and flee abroad from the war is an important and, unfortunately, hot topic. Most people are interested in it. Friends have also encouraged me to write more about it. I had decided to show the less highlighted sides of the story, so this time…