European leaders publicly describe their support for Ukraine as a battle between democracy and authoritarianism, sovereignty against imperial conquest. Behind closed doors, Alexander Rodnyansky writes in the Wall Street Journal, the logic is different: Europe backs Ukraine because a Russia still tied down militarily on Ukrainian soil is less likely to attack an EU member state.

Rodnyansky, an economics professor at the University of Cambridge and former economic adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, has described this shift in a WSJ opinion piece. Europe sees Ukraine "not only as a nation to be saved but as a buffer to be maintained," he writes. Reuters captured the same dynamic last year when it reported that most EU countries believe Russia remains less threatening as long as it stays engaged in Ukraine, "Hvylya" reports.

The problem, Rodnyansky argues, is not that Europe has interests - every foreign policy starts with interests. The problem is that Europe "refuses to be forthright about the nature of its own strategy." It wants the strategic benefits of using Ukraine as a shield while speaking as though it is chiefly engaged in a noble democratic mission.

That deception carries consequences. It encourages European governments to judge Ukraine solely by its ability to keep fighting, while ignoring troubling political developments: coercive mobilization, executive overreach, suspended accountability, and corruption that remains endemic. As long as the front holds, Rodnyansky writes, "almost everything else becomes easier to rationalize."

The former adviser stops short of saying Europe should abandon Ukraine. A stable and sovereign Ukraine remains in Europe's interest, he argues. But if Europe wants Ukraine as a future member of the West - not merely as a glacis against Russia - it must tie aid to institutional development, not just battlefield endurance. That means legislative function, transparency, anticorruption enforcement, and "a clear understanding that wartime necessity cannot become a permanent political principle."

Also read: why Rubio denied that Washington pressures Ukraine to trade territory for protection.