Western fatigue over the war in Ukraine, with the consequent risk of a decline in military support, and the voices calling for a negotiation with Russia even if it implies territorial concessions to the aggressor country, resonate with concern in Kyiv. One year and nine months after the start of the Russian invasion, the brutal reactivation of the conflict in the Middle East forces Ukraine to face a new danger in this war of attrition that stretches over time: oblivion.
“Ukraine will continue fighting despite voices of Western war fatigue; nothing has changed, we are still at war, we continue to defend ourselves, our people die, our soldiers fight, and our determination is the same,” said the Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Olga Stefanishina, in a meeting with political scientists and journalists in Berlin, at the German Society for Foreign Policy (DGAP) research institute. Olga Stefanishina (Odessa, 1985), a jurist specialized in International Relations, has held this position in the Ukrainian Government since June 2020.
Ukrainian concern is palpable. “What we see from Kyiv is changes in the global narrative; There is talk of war fatigue, it is said that the war has lasted too long, so we should negotiate at any cost; or it is emphasized that the greater the military support, the greater the risk of escalation, and even references are made to elections in Ukraine – continues Stefanishina. It is a set of ideas that only lead to delaying solutions, that take the focus off what is important to allow those who formulate them to feel comfortable doing nothing.”
However, the deputy prime minister admitted that they too were counting on a relatively quick resolution to the conflict. “Of course, we were hoping that the war would end soon, that we would be successful on the battlefield, that we would accumulate the necessary military aid, and that Russia would withdraw under the pressure of sanctions. If we have learned anything in these more than 600 days of war, it is that we should not count the days; We must count on the support, the commitment, the determination, not the result of a specific day of war. And, if we look from this perspective, we see that the evolution has been enormous.”
During the conversation in Berlin, Olga Stefanishina acknowledged that there will be “big challenges in the coming months, probably in the coming years.” The vice premier recalled that “the fact that the country is functioning does not mean that it has returned to normal; In any case, it is the Ukrainian normality of living in war”, but he stressed that “the decisions taken on February 24, 2022, when the large-scale Russian invasion began, and ten years ago when the revolution of dignity began in Maidan They have not changed”.
When asked by La Vanguardia, Stefanishina addressed Spain’s role in Ukraine’s war effort and its aspiration to join the EU. “Although geographically Spain is not a direct neighboring country of Ukraine, we are part of this same union, we are all part of Europe; Maybe there are things that do not affect emotionally in daily life, but there are so many things in common on the table, especially now that Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the EU. Our president [Volodímir Zelensky] was in Granada in October, where he participated in important debates under Spanish leadership.”
The deputy prime minister trusts that at the next European summit on December 14 and 15, the Twenty-Seven will decide to open accession negotiations for her country. Ukraine applied for EU membership on February 28, 2022, four days after the start of the Russian invasion, and on June 23 of that same year it was granted candidate country status. Stefanishina assured that they are addressing the pending reforms required, and also said that, following what was heard at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July, the Ukrainian military is being used to achieve the standards necessary for future membership in the Atlantic Alliance.
As long as the war continues, the deputy prime minister insisted, Ukraine will need military aid. “We need tanks, long-range artillery and anti-aircraft defense. Because? Because thanks to this military assistance we avoided the massacre; This prevents thousands of civilians and soldiers from dying every day. We are in the 21st century and obtaining an inch of territory in a war at the cost of thousands of deaths is not a success, it is a tragedy; and in Ukraine we want to protect our people.”
