Shyrokykh, KarinaBusol, KaterynaKoval, Dmytro2025-03-172025-03-172025Shyrokykh K. European Integration, and Democracy and Human Rights Reforms in Ukraine in the Wartime / Karina Shyrokykh, Kateryna Busol, and Dmytro Koval // Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. - 2025. - Part F3807. - P. 153-176. - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69154-6_7978-3-031-69153-9https://ekmair.ukma.edu.ua/handle/123456789/33974https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-69154-6_7In this chapter, we explore the process of European integration and reforms, both of which gained momentum amidst the war, while also investigating their inter-relationship. We ask: To what extent, how, and why does the EU integration accelerate reforms in Ukraine amidst the war? To address these questions, we examine the progress made in the policy areas of justice, anti-corruption, and gender equality, which have been the focus of long-standing EU-promoted reforms. We address these policy areas as notable achievements have taken place in these domains in the first year and a half of full-scale Russian aggression. Reforms in these policy areas for long have been the least likely to take place as they faced systematic resistance in Ukraine due to different reasons, which we discuss below. We explain how Russia’s full-scale invasion has become a catalyst of important transformations in Ukraine and what the role of European integration has played in the process of reforms.enRussiaUkraineEuropean UnionEU candidate statuswar crimesbook chapterBook chapter