Prime minister Tony Blair was urged not to snuff out Ukraine’s aspirations to join the EU amid hopes that it could form a “formidable barrier” to Russian expansionism, according to newly released official papers.
Files from the early 2000s released to the National Archives in Kew show UK officials found the Ukrainians were desperate to realise their “European vocation” but were depressed at the way they were “rubbished” in the West.
