Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan
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War in UkraineAdd to myFTGet instant alerts for this topicManage your delivery channels hereRemove from myFTUkraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace planFast-track entry to bloc being discussed by US and Ukrainian officials backed by Brussels in drive to end Russia’s warVolodymyr Zelenskyy said: ‘The issue of Ukraine’s future EU membership depends largely on the Europeans — and on the Americans too, in fact’ © Christophe Ena/Pool/EPA/ShutterstockUkraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on x (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on facebook (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on linkedin (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on x (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on facebook (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on linkedin (opens in a new window)Ukraine would join EU by 2027 under draft peace plan on whatsapp (opens in a new window) Save Henry Foy in Brussels, Christopher Miller in Kyiv and Max Seddon in BerlinPublishedDecember 12 2025Jump to comments sectionPrint this pageStay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest -- delivered directly to your inbox.Ukraine would be earmarked to join the EU by 2027 under a fast-tracked proposal being discussed in US-brokered negotiations to end Russia’s war, in a move that would rewrite the bloc’s accession procedures.EU accession by January 1 2027 is specified in the latest draft of a Ukraine peace proposal being negotiated by US and Ukrainian officials with the support of Brussels, people briefed on the document’s contents told the Financial Times.That rapid timeline — Kyiv is yet to formally complete even one of the EU’s gruelling 36 stages of accession — would upend the bloc’s “merit-based” approach to admitting new members and would force Brussels to rethink the entire process, the people added.They cited the current system of staggered access to EU funds, voting power and benefits such as the common agricultural policy.Officials supportive of Ukraine’s EU membership said including it as part of a peace deal would make membership a fait accompli for Kyiv, as Brussels would feel it could not derail the peace process by opposing the rapid timeline.US backing would also mean that President Donald Trump could order Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, who has so far held up Ukraine’s accession process, to drop his veto and allow Kyiv to start progressing through the political approval process.Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday that he and his team of negotiators had “shaped our approach to some points in line with the fact that Ukraine will in the future be a member of the European Union”.“The issue of Ukraine’s future EU membership,” Zelenskyy said, “depends largely on the Europeans — and on the Americans too, in fact”.“Because if we agree a deal specifying when Ukraine becomes a member of the EU, the Americans, as a party to this agreement, will do everything so that our European path cannot be blocked by others in Europe over whom they have influence,” he said.“So Europeans are really needed in the talks, and it is good that they are taking part.”Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and was granted the status of formal candidate four months later.The EU’s enlargement commissioner Marta Kos told the FT last month that new EU member states could be put on “probation” for a few years and excluded from the bloc in case of democratic backsliding, under a proposal aimed at allaying concerns about the impact of new entrants.The inclusion in a draft peace deal of Ukraine’s path to joining the EU by 2027 was first reported by Ukraine’s Mirror of the Week on Thursday. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he thought the US was “very close with Russia to having a deal. I thought we were very close with Ukraine to having a deal.”He said US officials would attend a meeting over the weekend, hosted by Germany, at which European and Ukrainian officials would work out some of the thornier points of the peace proposals that have been passed between the sides.Trump — who had vowed during his election campaign to bring peace to Ukraine and end Russia’s war in 24 hours — said on Thursday, almost a year into his second term, that the deal had become “a little bit complicated, because you’re cutting up land in a certain way, it’s not the easiest thing, it’s like a complex real estate deal times a thousand”.Russia has not indicated it will accept any plan that deviates from its maximalist demands for ending the war.Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Friday that Russia had not yet seen the latest drafts of the US peace plan with input from Ukraine and its European allies.“When we do see it, I sense that we’re not going to like a lot of it,” Ushakov told reporters.Ushakov also rejected suggestions that the frontline Donbas region could become a “free economic zone”, an idea being pushed by the Trump administration, if Ukraine withdrew its troops from the territory it controls there.Reuse this content (opens in new window) CommentsJump to comments sectionPromoted Content Follow the topics in this article War in Ukraine Add to myFT European Union Add to myFT Russia Add to myFT Christopher Miller Add to myFT Henry Foy Add to myFT Comments