JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

Ukraine has taken one other small step towards becoming a member of the European Union. The bloc’s govt fee really useful that negotiations for Ukraine’s accession into the EU start within the coming months. Joining the bloc has been a prime precedence for the besieged nation since earlier than Russia launched its full-scale invasion almost two years in the past. NPR’s Nathan Rott is in southern Ukraine and joins us now. Hi there.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE: Hey.

SUMMERS: So, Nate, inform us. How vital is that this newest step?

ROTT: So on a world scale, it is pretty small. The European Commission gave Ukraine candidate standing greater than a yr in the past, saying that the nation wanted to satisfy seven standards to maintain shifting by this entire course of. So we’re speaking, like, reforms to deal with corruption, cash laundering, press freedom, different points. The European Commission says that Ukraine has made sufficient progress now on these reforms that it ought to have the ability to transfer into formal negotiations. But becoming a member of the European Union, if you have not gathered, is a protracted and really bureaucratic course of.

SUMMERS: Yeah.

ROTT: And there is no assure that, even when Ukraine meets all of those standards – that they’re going to have the ability to get in. That’s why I say it is a small acquire within the world sense. Locally, although, right here in Ukraine, the place individuals are truthfully simply hungry for any excellent news, it is undoubtedly a much bigger deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the choice as a historic step.

SUMMERS: People are hungry for any excellent news. What do you imply by that?

ROTT: So it is attention-grabbing. You know, that is my first reporting journey to Ukraine in a couple of yr, and it is actually putting to see how the temper has modified in that point. It’s been almost a yr since Ukraine has made any vital positive factors in retaking territory.

SUMMERS: And the much-talked-about counteroffensive within the nation has been gradual, proper?

ROTT: Yeah. I imply, the pinnacle of Ukraine’s armed forces wrote an article in The Economist journal final week saying that the frontlines are primarily at, like, a World War I-like stalemate, an evaluation that, , Zelenskyy and different Ukrainian leaders have since downplayed. But for the typical Ukrainian residing beneath day by day air raid sirens, they’re drained. You know, we talked to a lady right here in Dnipro the opposite day who’s in her medical residency for gynecology. Her identify is Diana Panshyna, and he or she says when the air raid begins, she often shelters in her lavatory.

DIANA PANSHYNA: I imply, you do not know for certain the place the Russians are aiming as a result of they do not care. You’re pondering, what if it is me? What if if it is my home? What do I do? Should I gather my paperwork proper now? And at that second, I’m most anxious. And that is one thing that people who find themselves not affected by warfare is not going to perceive.

ROTT: And she says, , that is a factor she does not need anyone to have to know.

SUMMERS: Yeah. What are you listening to from folks there in regards to the largest issues as this warfare retains going?

ROTT: So within the quick time period, it is winter for certain. You know, final yr Russia commonly attacked Ukraine’s power and heating infrastructure, inflicting energy outages in main cities and areas and simply typically making life depressing for folks. It’s been unseasonably heat in Ukraine to this point this yr. It was a ravishing bluebird sky day right here. The director of the Energy Industry Research Center right here in Ukraine, Oleksandr Kharchenko, says that Ukraine is utilizing that heat climate to its benefit proper now.

OLEKSANDR KHARCHENKO: Each heat day, every day with out large assaults and big strikes towards power infrastructure give us extra time for preparation, and this time is used very successfully.

ROTT: So he means they’re repairing energy crops and infrastructure. They’re constructing defenses. But he did say that he very a lot expects Russia to essentially ramp up its wide-scale assaults on power infrastructure as quickly as temperatures dip.

SUMMERS: NPR’s Nathan Rott in Dnipro, Ukraine. Thank you.

ROTT: Yeah. Thank you.

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