Ukraine is not about to join the EU

FROM LIGHTBULBSEUEULED to military training plus billions of euros, it is hard to keep track of the European Union’s . Ursula von der Leyen and most of her European Commission, as well as Charles Michel, president of the European Council, visited Kyiv on February 3rd for meetings with Volodymyr Zelensky, the embattled country’s president, and members of his team. But help is one thing; quite another. Denys Shmyhal, Ukraine’s prime minister, said earlier this week that his country had an “ambitious plan to join the European Union within the next two years”. That is magical thinking. But it does not preclude Ukraine’s relationship with the club from changing radically in the coming years.“We will continue supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes,” said Mrs von der Leyen, as her visit started. She came armed with an assistance package worth €450m ($490m), bringing the total support for wartime Ukraine from the , including its member states, to €50bn. (Included in the ’s aid are 35m low-wattage lightbulbs, a potent symbol when Russian missiles have damaged much of Ukraine’s electricity supply.) But Mrs von der Leyen was careful to avoid any promises about accession dates. “There are no rigid timelines, but there are goals,” she told a press conference.