Painful Moments and Realignment: Explaining Ukraine’s Foreign Policy, 2014–2022
Journal: Problems of Post-Communism
Year: 2023

For decades, Ukraine’s foreign policy was indecisive, with elites balancing domestic interests, Russia, and the West. This article claims a critical juncture occurred in 2013–2014 resulting in Ukraine’s decisive turn to the West for two main reasons. First, the fragmentation of the Donetsk elite and territorial losses that excluded parts of its voter base weakened “pro-Russian” political forces inside Ukraine. Second, Ukraine’s predominant foreign policy narrative increasingly portrayed the EU a