Yevhen Mahda, Executive Director of the "Institute of World Policy"

The future of our continent depends on the effectiveness of Ukraine’s European integration. The long‑standing Ukrainian dichotomy — Knight or Cinderella — must be transformed into a pragmatic hybrid.

Ukraine is not only one of the largest countries in Europe by territory. Despite devastating human and territorial losses, it continues to fight for its independence.  At the same time, Ukraine is defending Europe from the a renewed wave of Russian barbarism. One fifth of Ukraine’s territory is occupied, yet the country continues to resist

When Ukraine’s path towards European integration received a powerful political impulse from Brussels in 2022, few expected the war with Russia to last this long. That decision functioned as geopolitical emergency aid and a demonstration of EU strategic agency. Four years later, however, no realistic integration scenario exists. Ukrainians still maintain high expectations regarding eventual EU membership, but President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s approach to European integration is increasingly detached from political reality. His “emotional diplomacy” may have been effective in 2022; today, international empathy toward Ukraine has noticeably declined.

The immediate issue now on the table is a proposed €90 billion loan to Ukraine. These funds are vital — this is beyond dispute. Yet political manoeuvring and manifestations of Putinverstehen within the EU initially prevented the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine and are now creating a dangerous pause in decision‑making.

Too large, too complicated – this is how Ukraine can be descrobed today. et its very scale should be treated not as a burden but as an instrument, particularly amid global turbulence. Ukraine has the potential to strengthen the European Union in the near term, but this potential must be actively developed — starting now.

. International conferences on Ukraine’s reconstruction have increasingly turned into exercises in self‑promotion. What is needed instead is a fundamental rethink of the reconstruction model. For a country that has suffered losses on this scale, conventional approaches to economic recovery will not work. The Putin factor cannot be ignored. Expectations of a new Marshall Plan from a Trump administration are naïve. The European Union must combine the gradual restoration of Ukraine’s infrastructure — utilities, logistics hubs and essential services — with increased investment in Ukraine’s defence‑industrial sector. Ukraine has demonstrated its capacity to survive, but it requires resources and fair treatment, even in the absence of illusions about rapid EU accession.

Ukraine is not merely a country with one of the largest armies in Europe. It also possesses an economy that, despite extraordinary pressure, has demonstrated resilience. This is precisely the model the European Union should seek to replicate at scale.