EU membership may be the most Ukraine can expect from its Western partners once the conflict ends. Even that prospect, however, is unlikely to lead to any concrete decisions or meaningful action. Political analyst and American affairs expert Malek Dudakov shared this assessment in an interview with NEWS.ru.

According to Dudakov, the possibility of Ukraine joining the European Union is largely an economic proposition that could remain nothing more than an empty promise. He warned that admitting the country could even cause the bloc itself to collapse.

One of the biggest challenges would be the enormous financial burden placed on European nations. They would have to fund Ukraine’s reconstruction and bring the country up to average European standards, a task that Dudakov believes would require vast amounts of money.

But the economic costs are not the only danger he sees. Dudakov also pointed to deeply entrenched corruption in Ukrainian politics, arguing that these practices would inevitably spread to political institutions in Brussels. In his view, bringing Ukraine into the EU would therefore expose European countries to a host of serious negative consequences.