The European Commission has drafted a “more cautious” roadmap for Ukraine’s EU accession talks that sets no target date for membership itself, Politico reported.

The outlet said Ukraine’s rapprochement with the EU should be viewed in the context of the country’s postwar future. Brussels sees potential EU membership as a way to anchor Kyiv firmly within European institutions, making it harder for Russia to carry out a new act of aggression.

In the new roadmap, Brussels calls on Kyiv to “urgently and significantly step up the pace of the rule of law reforms” in the coming months, before the preliminary stage of accession negotiations on individual policy areas is expected to conclude.

The document’s authors expect that Ukraine will complete negotiations on just seven of the 35 clusters by 2027: education and culture, intellectual property, employment and social policy, industrial policy, scientific research, external relations, and security policy.

The document also said Ukraine is currently lagging behind Moldova in its progress, a country whose EU application has long been considered alongside Ukraine’s. Moldova is expected to complete negotiations on more than 20 areas by 2027.

Ukraine applied for EU membership shortly after Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Unlike with NATO membership, Moscow has never objected to Ukraine joining the European Union.

The first peace plan drafted by U.S. presidential special envoy Steve Witkoff envisioned Ukraine’s EU accession by 2027. Kyiv welcomed that timeline, but European Union officials have consistently called it unrealistic.

War in photographs. Kharkiv

The Russian military attacked a hospital in Kharkiv overnight on November 3, injuring 73 people, local authorities said. An additional 226 patients had to be evacuated to other medical facilities.