This report on Ukraine is one in a series prepared within the framework of the EU-LISTCO project, funded under the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
Ukraine makes for a special case within the EU-LISTCO project. It is the second-largest country in Europe and has the longest land border with the EU. For a decade, it has been a member of the EU Eastern Partnership initiative. The EU–Ukraine Association Agreement was signed in 2014. Three years later, Ukrainians were granted visa-free travel to the EU. Ukraine’s security is fundamental to the stability of Europe, as well as EU–Russia relations. As a result of Russia’s aggression, Ukraine has lost control over some 7% of its territory, including the Crimean Peninsula and some parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The EU has imposed several restrictive measures on Russia for its destabilisation of Ukraine and has supported Ukrainian authorities in their struggle to reform state institutions.
The purpose of this report is to answer the following research questions: what is the background of the areas of limited statehood and contested orders in Ukraine; how and when could the areas of limited statehood and contested orders in Ukraine turn into areas with governance breakdown and/or violent conflict; what are the mechanisms of resilience in Ukraine; what are the interests of third parties towards Ukraine.