Andrii Hrubinko
Doctor of History, Full Professor, Department of Legal Theory and Constitutionalism, Director of the Centre for Strategic Analysis and International Studies, West Ukrainian National University
DOI:
Abstract. The article presents the results of a study of the history of Ukrainian-British relations during russia’s war against Ukraine, assessing the prerequisites for the enhancement of these relations in the first stage (2014–21) of the modern russian-Ukrainian war; the key areas of bilateral cooperation; the UK’s role in Ukraine’s resistance against the russian invasion in view of the ongoing international processes; the peculiarities of updating the body of bilateral agreements; and the influence factors, achievements, and miscalculations in the UK’s policy towards Ukraine.
The study concludes that russian military aggression against Ukraine has marked a new stage in the history of the UK’s foreign policy and Ukrainian-British relations. The UK’s unconditional (mainly military) assistance in the war has proven invaluable to Ukrainians and opened up significant prospects for further cooperation to achieve a just peace and rebuild Ukraine. The UK has confirmed its continued interest in developing strategic cooperation with Ukraine and supporting Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic integration.
The author argues that with the United States’ gradual withdrawal from supporting Ukraine and leading NATO, the UK’s importance to the European security system increases. However, as its international influence remains limited, the UK is not ready to undertake large-scale efforts to counter russian aggression without the help of partners in Europe and the support of the US. Therefore, parties to interstate cooperation will have to work hard to implement joint plans, especially to preserve existing ones and form new multilateral formats of cooperation at the regional level.
Keywords: military aggression, strategic relations, European security, security guarantees, ‘centenary agreement’, military assistance, NATO, EU.
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