Europeanisation under fire: Minority rights and the limits of EU norm diffusion in wartime Ukraine

The status of national minorities in Ukraine has become increasingly politicised, not only as Russia's justification for its invasions, but also due to Ukraine's bid for European Union membership. Minority rights reforms are central to EU accession, yet little is known about how EU-orientated citizens view policies of minority accommodation. We address this gap with an original quota-based online survey of 2100 respondents conducted in August 2023. Despite expectations that pro-EU orientations foster support for minority inclusion, we find the opposite: pro-European Ukrainians are opposed to diversity accommodations. These findings challenge assumptions about the normative influence of the EU in candidate states and raise critical questions about the coherence of EU enlargement policy, minority rights and post-conflict integration in Ukraine.