The Russian-Ukrainian War and the Eastern Partnership Program

The article aims to present the EU Eastern Partnership program in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The Eastern Partnership program was launched in 2009 and covered six former Soviet republics: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. Ukraine achieved all the main goals of the Partnership, which did not provide any prospects for membership in the European Union. The situation changed in 2022 with the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. One of the effects was Ukraine submitting a formal application for EU membership in 2022, and in 2023, the EU decided to start accession negotiations with Ukraine. The article aims to diagnose the effects and perspectives of the Eastern Partnership program in connection with the architecture of international relations and security in Europe. The most important research question is: Will the Russian-Ukrainian war and the resulting emergence of a new geopolitical map of Europe mean a more active role for the EU towards the Eastern Partnership countries? The following theses were put forward in the article: The impact of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the EU’s Eastern Partnership has been significant because, in particular, it significantly impacted the EU’s relationship with Russia and should lead to the more active involvement of the EU in the situation of its eastern neighbors. The changes brought about by the Russian-Ukrainian war should lead to certain modifications of the Eastern Partnership because, in the current situation, this program is no longer an adequate instrument of the European Union’s eastern policy. Methods of content analysis of documents and publications, were used in the article.