What the 19 July 2021 joint EU statement signalled for Kyiv
A retrospective on a joint declaration by three presidents and a Belarusian opposition appeal in Washington, in the days before 22 July 2021.
What did Kyiv signal in the days leading up to 22 July 2021? On 19 July 2021, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili announced in a joint statement that their countries intended to pursue closer relations with the European Union. The announcement was reported at the time as effectively a rebuke to Russia.
The statement placed Ukraine alongside two other states making the same declared choice. Presenting the intention jointly, rather than in three separate announcements, framed it as a shared direction for Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia.
The regional picture included another development a day later. On 20 July 2021, during a visit to Washington, D.C., Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya asked the Biden administration to impose sanctions on companies in Belarus, in order to put pressure on the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
Taken together, the two events showed governments and opposition figures in Eastern Europe turning to Western partners in the same week: three presidents toward the EU, and a Belarusian opposition leader toward Washington.
