Ukrainian prime minister says country’s military could form basis of new EU army

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) could form the basis of a new European army should Ukraine’s membership of the EU be approved, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal suggested in a column published by Politico on Friday.

Stressing that Ukraine’s accession to the EU wasn’t “only a moral obligation but a strategic step” that he argued was “first and foremost, necessary for the bloc itself”, Shmyhal said that the AFU “could become the backbone of a unified European army”.

Shmyhal went on to quote Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said that the danger to European security, whether from Russia or elsewhere, wouldn’t end once the war in Ukraine ended. “No one understands war better than Ukrainians do,” Shmyhal said, adding that “no other country in the European community has such modern military experience”.

Shmyhal also wrote about the potential benefits to be gained by Europe if it invested in Ukraine’s natural resources. Noting that Ukraine topped the European rankings in terms of uranium ore and lithium reserves, and was also “among the top 10 countries with proven titanium ore reserves”, only 10% of which were currently being exploited, he wrote, adding that it could ultimately replace Russian titanium on the European market.

On Monday US President Donald Trump doubled down on his demand that Kyiv supply the US with rare earth metals in return for its continued military support, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent visiting Kyiv earlier this week to deliver a first draft of a deal that would give the US access to Ukrainian natural resources, which is expected to be finalised during this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, AFP reported.

Trump’s Wednesday call with Vladimir Putin and Washington’s push for an “immediate” start to negotiations to end the war in Ukraine has sparked fears in Europe of an increasingly uncertain future for Ukraine, as the role of Kyiv and the EU in potential peace talks increasingly appears to be an afterthought for the new US administration.