Ukraine and the West

[A.V.]

"I FEEL the weight of history," said Radek Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, at the Yalta European Strategy forum (set up by Viktor Pinchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch). The conference took place in the Livadia palace, where Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin decided the fate of Europe in February 1945. Yet Ukraine's situation as a swing state also prompted historic reflections. Twenty years after the Soviet collapse, the country faces choices that will determine both the shape of Europe and its own sovereignty.
Bordering Russia in the east, the European Union in the west and Turkey across the Black Sea, this country of 48m people is of interest to all three. The European Union may have little appetite for expansion just now, but it has been negotiating a free-trade and association agreement with Ukraine that would be a big step towards integration. Carl Bildt, Sweden's foreign minister, said in Yalta that "we see Ukraine as Europe's future production harbour, not just as a pipeline territory." Turkey, which talks of regaining the influence it enjoyed in the Ottoman days, also has an interest in Ukraine, especially in Crimea, home to 260,000 ethnic Tatars. It sent senior officials to Yalta and hosted a reception on the Black Sea

Ukraine and the West: Viktor's dilemma | The Economist

 

[nrj]

States sitting on key geographical positions will enjoy appeasement from every corner.

Its good & bad too. It can turn you into something like Pakistan. However, Ukraine has played its cards right till now.

More than EU, Ukraine will have influence from Kremlin or Beijing in future. None of them will threaten its sovereignty till Ukrainins are internally strong. Its biased to say that Ukraine faces choice to determine EU's shape & its sovereignty.