By Stine Bosse, Member of the European Parliament, and Andriy Klepikov, Executive Director, Alliance for Public Health (Ukraine)
In June, the EU and Ukraine opened their first accession negotiating cluster: a concrete step toward membership, and the first of many. But joining Europe is not only about aligning laws and institutions, but also about investing in the people who will rebuild the country and shape its future within our Union. Ukraine cannot recover from war, keep its people from leaving, or build a resilient economy without healthy people.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, the World Health Organization has verified more than 3,000 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine (hospitals, clinics, ambulances, medical warehouses) a sustained campaign that has worn down the country’s ability to deliver care throughout the war. In July, one of those attacks destroyed a warehouse in the Kyiv region holding more than $2.6 million in HIV prevention supplies, including stock meant to last through 2027 and reach more than 300,000 people, among them communities in frontline and de-occupied areas that are hardest for the wider health system to reach.
In her State of the Union address, Ursula von der Leyen reaffirmed Europe’s support for Ukraine and declared: “In Europe, people will always come first.” That principle must guide Europe’s investment in Ukraine: its resilience in war, its recovery from it and its path to EU membership all depend on the health and resilience of its people.
That is why health should be part of Europe’s investment in Ukraine. A country cannot recover from war, retain its people or build a resilient economy without healthy people. And that is why Ukraine should also be part of von der Leyen’s own flagship health agenda. In May, the European Commission launched the EU Global Health Resilience Initiative to strengthen health systems, disease surveillance and health security around the world. Ukraine is already showing what health resilience can look like, on the EU’s health borders. Its health workers and civil society organisations have adapted, using new technologies and innovative approaches to reach people who are hardest to reach and keep life-saving services going. Their resilience should inspire Europe to invest in the health and resilience of Ukraine’s people.
The next EU budget is where this ambition can become reality. The Commission’s proposed 2028–2034 budget puts up to €100 billion behind Ukraine and €200.3 billion into Global Europe. That level of ambition should be maintained and health must be part of it. Keeping the human-development spending target is necessary to sustain investment in two areas where von der Leyen has shown strong leadership: Ukraine and global health. It will also be critical to turning the EU’s Global Fund pledge into reality and giving Ukraine the long-term investment it needs to strengthen its health security.
President von der Leyen has reaffirmed that Europe stands with Ukraine. The task now is to ensure that Ukraine’s path to EU membership, Europe’s commitment to global health and the next EU budget share one principle: a country fighting for its place in Europe should not have to fight for the health of its people alone.