Russia’s War on Ukraine has completed one year. While the war continues on the ground, it has been a year of intense diplomatic initiatives, tensions, rapprochement, and estrangement for the whole world. One of the actors most in the spotlight because of the war was the European Union. Brussels took a hard line against Moscow in terms of rhetoric.
At first glance, the Union seems to have given unconditional support to Ukraine, with the well-recognised yellow and blue flags adorning most European cities today. Almost all European leaders have visited Kyiv under war conditions providing financial aid packages, while economic sanctions were rapidly placed against Russia. Nevertheless, the reality is more complicated than the image of Russia and its supporters versus the western bloc that opposes them.
To understand the European Union’s response to Russia’s War on Ukraine, we first need to put things from a historical perspective. It is necessary to remember the European security concept that emerged after World War II and the EU’s place in international politics after the Cold War. The situation in which the EU was caught up in this war sheds light on its response to the war and what might happen moving forward.
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