As part of the project “Ukraine’s European integration in the context of elections in EU countries. The informational aspect”, Ukraine Crisis Media Center hosted an expert discussion “Ukraine’s European integration through the lens of elections in EU countries”.
Ukraine is about to open the first cluster in negotiations with Brussels, and Kyiv has a big goal to start five new clusters this year. At the same time, the Russian Federation expresses skepticism about the EU’s expansion, interferes in foreign policy and tries to discredit the very idea of Ukraine’s European integration.
According to Volodymyr Solovian, PhD in Philosophy, Head of the Hybrid Warfare Analysis Group, UCMC, Russian narratives are supported by the programs of populist parties and right-wing parties in various European countries And elections are among the most important periods in the life of these countries, as it is the time for spreading disinformation campaigns.
“Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic are countries that have been helping Ukraine a lot on its way to European integration and in the war for independence. These countries will hold national elections in the coming months. And we decided to see how these countries cover the issue of Ukraine’s European integration in their media space,” he explained.
In the Czech Republic, Ukraine remains one of the important issues discussed by the public before the elections.
“We must remember that military aid, security, rescue operations, and refugees are the things that will be discussed in the coming months. We’ll see what happens next, but we can already see some skepticism,” said Pavel Havlíček, Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs (Czech Republic).
However, he is convinced that it will be possible to preserve most of the aid to Ukraine even in challenging situations.
The goal pursued by the Russian Federation in Poland is not to turn it into a pro-Russian country, as it is impossible in Poland due to historical memory, social aspects, social sentiments that are anti-Russian. And this is of course supported by the government, experts and the Polish population in general. Therefore, the goal of the disinformation campaign carried out by the Russian Federation or on behalf of the Russian Federation is primarily to make Poland weaker. This opinion was expressed by Łukasz Adamski, Deputy Director of the Mieroszewski Institute, (Poland).
Another goal of the Russians, the expert said, is to estrange Ukraine from Poland.
Mihai Vacariu, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication Sciences, the University of Bucharest, and Mihai Isac, Foreign Policy and Security Analyst, Senior Editor at Karadeniz Press Agency (Romania) spoke about the situation in Romania in the context of the presidential elections and the place of the Ukrainian issue in the candidates’ agendas.
The Ukrainian expert community was represented by Yuriy Oliynyk, PhD in Political Sciences, Head of Research Programs at the Ukrainian Strategic Studies Center, a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Taras Zhovtenko, PhD in National Security Studies, Member of the Public Advisory Council at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Yehor Brailian, PhD in History, Associate Professor at the Department of International Relations and Strategic Studies, the Kyiv Aviation Institute.
“The best strategic communication is the gradual unification of the efforts of the Ukrainian government, diplomacy, civil society, partly the diaspora and partly media professionals and analysts of these countries. In any case, the main task remains systematic work to ensure that the societies of these countries understand that they are manipulated. As for me, there is no point in constantly debunking all this Russian nonsense. It is clear that all this must be analyzed, including the so-called reflexive control and the work of Russian special services in Central Europe, but only the formation of our own narratives about these countries will help us,” Yehor Brailian advised.
Finally, the panelists were familiarized with the presentation of the expert survey “Ukraine’s European integration on the eve of the 2025 elections in the EU countries: the experience of Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic”, which was conducted by Ukraine Crisis Media Center from March 10 to 20, 2025 and covered 115 experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.
Finally, the panelists were familiarized with the presentation of the expert survey “Ukraine’s European integration on the eve of the 2025 elections in the EU countries: the experience of Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic”, which was conducted by Ukraine Crisis Media Center from March 10 to 20, 2025 and covered 115 experts from the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania.
