European Pravda in collaboration with the Ukrainian Center for European Policy, supported by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Kyiv, presents a series of conversations about Ukraine's European past, future, and the European identity of Ukrainians.

It is important for Ukraine to comprehend the challenges that await it on this path and also to find ways to make this journey shorter. It is worth addressing complex issues to understand this.

The editor of European Pravda, Sergiy Sydorenko, had a conversation with Yevhen Hlibovytsky, a thinker and founder of the Frontier Institute. Read in the article – Imagine: Trump Becomes President and Withdraws from NATO. It Will Change Everything in Europe.

Ukraine's path to the European Union is all about dangers.

These are not existential threats, like in relations with Russia, but dangers of a kind that could undermine Ukraine's prospects. If it agrees to join on the wrong terms, it could turn into a catastrophe for both Ukraine and the European Union.

None of the current EU member states joined the union in such an existential crisis as Ukraine is facing now.

Even though it is Ukraine joining the European Union (and thus, the "accession negotiations" actually involve Ukraine adapting to European norms), it is also about the integration of the European Union into Ukraine.

That's why Ukraine must not just fulfil conditions but also be able to explain to European partners why a certain element should be done in a particular way according to Ukraine's perspective.

Of course, the process is symmetrical. Ukraine has much more homework to do. But there are also changes where Ukraine is crucial for the EU and where work is needed from the European side.

It is about the security policy sector.

The world is changing. Europe is slowly realising the need to change attitudes towards security issues, where Ukraine could contribute.

None of the current EU members though has been as incomprehensible to the rest of the EU as Ukraine is now.

On European scales, Ukraine is constantly either overestimated or underestimated.

We see both high expectations that we cannot meet (resulting in disappointment) and the surprise of the rest of Europe because they cannot comprehend how Ukraine manages to be as effective as it is, given their assessments that "everything is bad."

On top of that, Ukraine's priority is to interest not just political elites (they already understand Ukraine's importance), but to "sell" Ukraine to Western societies. The average German, French, Spaniard, Italian, Austrian, etc., should see the value in being in the same club as Ukraine.

Ukraine needs to work purposefully and consistently with those with whom it has the most problems. For example, with the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and so on.

But to enter the clubs where these countries define important positions (such as the EU and NATO), Ukraine needs to understand them well from the inside. It needs expertise on how they operate. And Ukraine currently lacks it.

The war must end with a victory as soon as possible.

Unlike other Europeans, Ukraine doesn't have time. This is something that the EU doesn't quite understand. They see the war as a process.

Ukraine needs to use every opportunity to convey the importance of a swift victory to our partners.

The voices of opinion leaders like Timothy Snyder are crucial for Ukraine, which needs to work more actively with former diplomats, presidents, prime ministers, politicians, media figures, cultural figures, etc. It needs to engage in church diplomacy and better use the voices of Western military personnel in political matters.