Ukraine–European Union relations
International relations between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine are shaped through the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). Ukraine is a priority partner within the Eastern Partnership and the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The EU and Ukraine have been seeking an increasingly close relationship, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and deepening of political co-operation. On 23 June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine the status of a candidate for accession to the European Union.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman meets with President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, 24 May 2018
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meets with President of the European Council Donald Tusk in Brussels, 5 June 2019
Left to right: Then Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko meeting with European Council President Herman Van Rompuy in 2009.
Angela Merkel (Chancellor of Germany) in Conversation with Yulia Tymoshenko (Prime Minister of Ukraine) during the 45th Munich Security Conference (7 February 2009)
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which borders it to the east and northeast. It also borders Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; and Romania and Moldova to the southwest; with a coastline along the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov to the south and southeast. Kyiv is the nation's capital and largest city, followed by Kharkiv, Dnipro and Odesa. Ukraine's official language is Ukrainian; Russian is also widely spoken, especially in the east and south.
Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic steppes of present-day Ukraine and Russia
The furthest extent of Kievan Rus', 1054–1132
Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky established an independent Cossack state after the 1648 uprising against Poland.
Polish troops enter Kyiv in May 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War. Following the Peace of Riga signed on 18 March 1921, Poland took control of modern-day western Ukraine while Soviets took control of eastern and central Ukraine.