Talking Europe welcomes Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker and Chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament. Elected in October 2021 – just months before Russia’s full-scale invasion – Stefanchuk is a seasoned political figure, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky, and second in line to the presidency under Ukraine’s constitution. A respected legal scholar, he brings that expertise to bear in discussing the legal complexities surrounding the use of frozen Russian assets. We also examine Ukraine’s difficult road toward EU accession, its ongoing rule-of-law reforms, and what Kyiv needs most from its Western partners at this critical time.

Summing up his official visit to France, Stefanchuk says: “I came with words of gratitude to the French people for the active support that we have been receiving. But also I came with words of request, a request that we need to continue this fight together, together with our friends all over the world, including Europe and France. I came with the words that what is extremely needed now in Ukraine, is the air defence system. This issue is connected with providing Ukraine more weapons to make sure that we can withstand this attack.” 

Stefanchuk elaborates; “Let's be completely honest. War is a horrible math. Ukraine today is protecting the eastern flank of NATO from Russia's assault. And we are paying a terrible price for this. We're paying with the lives of our best sons and daughters.  War includes the financial component, the military component and, unfortunately, the human component. And we must understand that, in order to win this war, we need to have all these components filled in. And of course, we are going to work with our partners to make sure that if we have less financial support (from the US), we'll be asking Europe to increase its support for Ukraine.” 

Stefanchuk adds that he also came to France to discuss the issue of frozen Russian assets, and “legal solutions” to unlocking the assets. Many EU governments – including France – do not want to set an international legal precedent by fully using the assets. But Stefanchuk argues that if this is not done, a different kind of precedent will be set. “We must find the mechanism to make sure that the one who violates the law is made accountable for these violations,” he states. “If this is not done, then in the near future, anyone who has the strength, the power, and has no conscience, will do whatever they like, knowing that their assets are guaranteed. No! We must create the precedent according to which every criminal must know that they will pay for war with their money.” 

We turn to Ukraine’s EU accession process, which has run into Hungarian opposition, despite the European Commission saying that Ukraine has “done its homework” in three negotiating clusters. 

“Ukraine, despite the war, is fulfilling all its obligations to the European Union. We adopt the laws, we carry out reforms. We are not asking for some excuses for Ukraine, for some simplified track,” Stefanchuk asserts. “We honestly take our path, but we are also counting on the same kind of honesty from our European partners. And we want to make sure that Hungary is not a country that is Putin's veto on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Putin is not an EU member. He has no right of veto in the EU. This, I believe, is becoming a big threat for all the countries of the European Union, for all the NATO countries, because Putin is using some countries to block the alliance decisions. So this is a huge challenge.” 

Stefanchuk is adamant there is “no backtracking at all” on anti-corruption reforms, despite the country slipping slightly in Transparency International’s last Corruption Perceptions Index (2024). 

“The situation has changed”, Stefanchuk remarks. “The Ukraine of 2025 is a different country from the Ukraine of 2005. Today we can hold top officials accountable, demonstrating to others that the fight against corruption is irreversible in our country. For example, the ex-head of the Supreme Court received a suspicion, and a couple of ministers received this notification of suspicion. That's the first time ever in the history of Ukraine. Ukraine's President Zelensky, the prime minister, and I, we all have a zero-tolerance approach to corruption.” 

Many countries were deeply concerned about Israel’s attack on Iran on June 13. But Stefanchuk reminds viewers that “Iran’s Shahed drones terrorise Ukrainians every night. Of course, the weaker Iran and North Korea are, and the weaker Russia is, the better it is for us. The less peaceful citizens will suffer and the less Ukrainian infrastructure will suffer, the closer we will be to our common victory.” 

 

Programme produced by Luke Brown, Perrine Desplats and Isabelle Romero