Diplomatic initiatives of the european union in relation to the Russia–Ukrainian conflict through the lens of European council documents (2018–2026)

This study examines the diplomatic initiatives of the European Union in relation to the Russia–Ukrainian conflict through a content analysis of the official European Council conclusions issued between 2018 and 2026. It proposes an operational definition of a diplomatic initiative together with a system of identification criteria that distinguishes diplomatic initiatives from political statements and other forms of foreign policy response. The findings indicate that no independent diplomatic initiatives, as defined by the proposed analytical framework, were identified in the examined corpus of European Council documents. At the same time, the European Union emerges as an important participant in the international diplomatic environment by providing political support for existing conflict-settlement efforts and by articulating its own position on the conditions necessary for achieving a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace.