Ukraine’s EU accession is possible before the war’s end.

Olha Stefanishyna, the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, is convinced that Ukraine’s accession to the EU cannot be linked to the completion of hostilities or de-occupation. The Deputy Prime Minister is confident that even if the war’s end is delayed, it will not become an obstacle for Ukraine’s accession to the EU. “I will not make any predictions about the time, but when it comes to membership, the dynamics of the war will not be the decisive factor. We can join the EU even if the war is not over,” Stefanishyna said at Halifax International Security Forum in Canada. She did not specify which, if any, elements of the war dragging on could delay Ukraine’s accession to the EU. Still, she noted that earlier, Ukraine and the EU concluded a political trade agreement despite the presence of occupied territories.