Politics

Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko attends a session of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 17, 2025.
Politics

Exclusive: Mounting concern in Brussels over Ukraine’s reform backslide

by Luca Léry Moffat

As Ukraine pushes for a fast-tracked entry to the EU, senior European officials say they are worried about progress on key reforms needed to secure the country’s European aspirations. Ukraine failed to complete 11 reforms in the last three months of 2025 required to unlock European funds, according to RRR4U, a consortium of Ukrainian think tanks, and is on track to miss more reforms in the first three months of 2026 — putting a total of five billion euros ($5.8 billion) of EU funding at risk.

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Film awards race shows what stories about war West prefers to hear

Two films about Russia and Ukraine are generating buzz in this year's film awards season: Mstyslav Chernov's "2,000 Meters to Andriivka" and "Mr. Nobody Against Putin," directed by American documentarian David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin, the film's protagonist and a former videographer at a secondary school in Russia. Two of the most prestigious Western honors have gone to "Mr. Nobody." One, it beat out "2,000 Meters" for the Best Documentary BAFTA Award during Sunday's ceremony. Second, at

Explainer: Russia disrupts Ukraine peace talks with timed false accusations

Every time negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, and the U.S. appear to gain momentum, Moscow introduces a new allegation — drone attacks, assassination attempts, nuclear plots, sabotage — that threatens to stall or derail the process. Ukrainian officials and Western analysts say the pattern is no coincidence. A high-level Ukrainian official familiar with the course of the negotiations told the Kyiv Independent that the "nonsense" Russia is spreading is intended to influence the talks and dive

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