Nataliia Melnychenko
Ph.D. in International Law, Associate Professor
Department of
International, Civil and Commercial Law, State University of Trade and
Economics
Kyiv, Ukraine
After declaring independence on August 24, 1991 Ukraine began to formulate its own foreign policy. The new state was partially the successor to the Ukrainian SSR. Ukraine's European integration has been one of the vectors of our country's development since the 1990s. However, the first stages of foreign policy development were characterized by multi-vectorism and a certain lack of independence due to the long period of being part of the Soviet Union. In the first years of independence, the country continued to be ruled by representatives of the Communist Party, which was used to following instructions from Moscow.
In 1991-1999, the concept of the foreign policy course of independent Ukraine was actively developed. The first document was the Parliament Resolution "On the Main Directions of Ukraine's Foreign Policy" of July 2, 1993. The document stated that "...the dominant bilateral relations with the border states are Ukrainian-Russian relations ... since their character will largely determine the fate of progressive democratic development of both Ukraine and the Russian Federation, stability in Europe and throughout the world. Ukraine will direct its foreign policy efforts to become a reliable bridge between Russia and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe." Para. b) referred to the development of relations with Western European countries, which "will create conditions for the restoration of Ukraine's long-standing ... ties with European civilization, acceleration of democratization, market reforms and recovery of the national economy."
In March 1994, Ukraine was granted the status of an associate member of the Central European Initiative. In 1994, the EU-Ukraine Partnership and Cooperation Agreement was signed, which demonstrated the common intentions of the EU and Ukraine to promote mutually beneficial relations. Ukraine became a full member of the Council of Europe in November 1995.
On July 1, 2010, the Parliament adopted the Law of Ukraine "On the Principles of Domestic and Foreign Policy." As of today, the law has been amended 6 times, which concerned the priority direction of foreign policy development. The law was adopted during the presidency of pro-Russian President Yanukovych, and accordingly, in its 2010 version, Art. 11 of the Foreign Policy Principles stated that "Ukraine, as a European non-aligned state, pursues an open foreign policy and seeks cooperation with all interested partners, avoiding dependence on individual states, groups of states or international organizations."
The provisions on "ensuring Ukraine's integration into the European political, economic, and legal space with a view to gaining EU membership" were included in the first version of the law. One of the main outcomes of this process should be the signing of the Association Agreement with the EU by Ukrainian President Yanukovych at the Eastern Partnership Summit in the autumn of 2013. However, his refusal to sign the Association Agreement led to massive peaceful protests in central Kyiv, which went down in history as Euromaidan and the Revolution of Dignity. Yanukovych fled to Russia, and in March 2014, the Russian army occupied Crimea and began to seize parts of eastern Ukraine. Despite this, the economic part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU was signed in March 2014, and the political part in June 2014. Moreover, in 2017, Ukraine received a visa-free regime with the EU.
In December 2014, on the initiative of pro-European President Poroshenko, Art. 11 of the Law was rewritten, removing the provision on non-alignment and adding a provision on deepening cooperation with NATO with a view to becoming a member of the organization (para. 8).
On February 7, 2019, the Parliament adopted the Law "On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine (regarding the strategic course of the state for Ukraine's full membership in the EU and NATO)" initiated by President Poroshenko. The Parliament and the President were determined to be responsible for this direction (Art. 85, 102).
The events of February 24, 2022, when Russia launched a large-scale offensive against Ukraine, caused dramatic changes in European and global security. The largest war in Europe since the World War II, with the killing and abuse of Ukrainian civilians and prisoners of war by the Russian army, shocked the international community. On February 28, Ukraine applied to join the European Union. Negotiations on Kyiv's candidate status were successful at the EU summit on June 23. It took three and a half months for Ukraine's application to be considered.
Today Ukraine continues to pay for its European integration course with the occupation of part of its territory, hundreds of thousands of killed and wounded soldiers and civilians, millions of internally displaced persons, refugees, and the destruction of infrastructure and homes. This is a very high price to pay. But for now, the compass of foreign policy is irrevocably pointing west.