UKRAINE: THE COUNTRY THE WORLD DISCOVERED ONLY WHEN THE WAR BEGAN
Ukraine Before the Myth: Poverty, Migration, Corruption — and Who Will Profit From the Peace
Before February 24, 2022, ask an average American, Latin American or Asian citizen to locate Ukraine on a blank map.
Many probably could not.
Even inside Western Europe, Ukraine was hardly at the centre of everyday political debate.
It rarely dominated financial newspapers. It was not a major destination for Western investment. It was not a significant consumer market. It was not a member of the European Union or NATO.
For millions of Europeans, their most tangible contact with Ukraine was considerably less geopolitical: Ukrainian workers.
Construction workers.
Agricultural workers.
Factory workers.
Truck drivers.
Domestic carers.
Hotel and restaurant employees.
Millions of Ukrainians had already moved abroad searching for salaries their domestic economy could not provide.
Then Russia invaded.
Almost overnight, a country that much of the world barely discussed became perhaps the most geopolitically important country in Europe.
European flags appeared beside Ukrainian ones.
Presidents travelled to Kyiv.
Weapons worth tens of billions crossed its borders.
Hundreds of billions in financial commitments followed.
NATO rediscovered its original purpose.
Germany overturned decades of defence policy.
Finland and Sweden abandoned military non-alignment.
Europe began discussing strategic autonomy, joint procurement and even elements of a future common defence architecture.
Ukraine did not simply become a battlefield.
It changed Europe.
But to understand what happened after 2022, we first need to remember what Ukraine actually was before the war.
And that story is considerably less romantic.
First, understand the size of Ukraine
Ukraine is enormous by European standards.
Its internationally recognised territory covers roughly 603,600 square kilometres.