‘Europe’ should be built around Ukraine – PM

Cooperating with Kiev is a chance for the EU to rediscover its identity, Denis Shmigal has claimed

12 APR 2025 CET RT: FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal © Getty Images

Ukraine is the central point around which a new geometry of Europe is being built, Kiev’s Prime Minister Denis Shmigal has said.

During his speech at the EU-Ukraine Business Summit in Brussels on Thursday, Shmigal tried to persuade the bloc to speed up the process of making his country a full member.

“Today, Ukraine is not just a country at war,” he said, referring to the conflict with Russia. “It is the central point around which the new geometry of Europe is being built.”

“We are not a buffer zone. We are not a gray zone. We are a new opportunity for Europe to rediscover its identity,” the PM added.

Speaking about the global tariff war which was recently unleashed by US President Donald Trump, Shmigal urged the EU to “recognize the new reality,” in which “free trade no longer guarantees security. Energy is no longer apolitical, and supply chains are no longer neutral.”

He called upon Western European businesses to invest in Ukraine’s natural resources and stressed a vast potential for cooperation in such areas as the restoration and use of gas storage facilities, renewable energy, agriculture and IT.

Ukraine could become “an industrial heart of Europe,” which would provide for the EU’s rearmament and defense autonomy, the prime minister claimed.

Kiev was granted EU candidate status in 2022, a few months after the escalation with Moscow, in which the bloc fully backed Ukraine. However, Brussels has never set a definitive timeline for the country’s accession.

In order to join the bloc, the EU has demanded that Ukraine implement a comprehensive set of governance reforms, fight rampant corruption and harmonize its legislation with EU law. Full membership also necessitates the unanimous approval of all EU nations; countries like Hungary are currently skeptical about it.

Russia, which is categorically opposed to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, would not object to its EU accession, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in February. “It is the sovereign right of any country. We are talking about integration, economic processes, and here, of course, no one can dictate anything to any country. We are not going to do that,” he explained.