(opinion article)

De Jure Ukraine is a non –aligned country. De Facto Ukraine is the member of the European Union. The statistics given below firmly prove this. For such a geopolitical paradox, Ukrainians should thank Emmanuel Macron, President of France; Olaf Scholz, Federal Chancellor of Germany; Andrzej Duda, President of Poland; Georgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy; and other high-rank EU politicians and government officials.  Our special gratitude could be given to Keir Starmer, Prime Minister of the UK and his predecessor Boris Jonson, their contribution and their unwavering commitment to supporting Ukraine could hardly be overestimated. 

Let`s come back to statistics. At the beginning of April 2025, the European Commission transferred €3.5 billion to Ukraine within the program Ukraine Facility. €3.1 billion was given as government concessional loans and €400 million as grants. The funds were directed to cover the budget needs of Ukraine.

Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, stated that the total sum of the financial aid of the European Union to Ukraine within the Ukrainian Facility program had already reached € 19.6 billion euros.

Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said that Ukraine had received these funds because it had done its best to meet the requirements of the EU, including aligning our legislation with European norms, promoting digital transformation and consolidating energy independence. She added, “We fulfilled a total of 36 indicators last year. This is the first time in the history of Ukraine that all the indicators of the reform programme set for the year have been fulfilled. Our goal for this year is even more ambitious: to fulfill 56.”

According to the official website of the European Union (https://www.eeas.europa.eu/), from the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war till February 24, 2025, Ukraine received €149 billion support in spheres of finance, military equipment, logistical help, humanitarian aid and refugees` assistance. 65% of the EU support came as grants and in-kind financing, 35% as highly concessional loans.  In October 2024, the EU leaders agreed to transfer additional €20 billion to Ukrainian military and budgetary needs, taken from immobilized Russian assets deposited in European banks. By 2027, through the Ukrainian Facility program, the EU plans to allocate additional €54 billion to assist Ukrainians in the recovery and reconstruction of their economy.

So, all together, including several more financial aid packages from the EU, during the period of February 2022 – February 2025, Ukraine received somewhere €198 billion…Let`s ask a rhetorical question, “Is there at least one European Union country that got the same financial support during the above-mentioned period?” The answer is obvious – NO!

So DE JURE, Ukraine is still not a member of the European Union (the dream of millions of Ukrainians). DE FACTO the fantastic financial support of the EU countries to our state in the time of the bloody Russian-Ukrainian war testifies that Ukraine has already joined this democratic club of free and wealthy countries.

From the perspective of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv Metropolitan University, especially looking through the glasses of the Faculty of Journalism, I guess that it`s a good idea for the next educational year to incorporate in the faculty programs such compulsory course as ‘European Union Studies’ and ‘Ukraine and the EU: History and Prospects,’ and such optional courses as the French language, the German language, the Polish language and the Italian language.

Ukrainian students seek integration with the EU; the EU provides steady support.