As 60,000 fans filled Kyiv’s newly modernised Olympic Stadium in July for the Euro 2012 football championship final, it appeared in some ways to cement Ukraine’s membership of the European “family” of nations. The country’s co-hosting of the tournament with Poland – the first
time two former socialist bloc states have done so since the Berlin Wall
fell – was widely deemed a success. It attracted hundreds of thousands
of visitors, while the estimated $5bn Ukraine poured into infrastructure
investments and other preparations will give the country a lasting
boost.