EU launches membership talks with Ukraine but joining could take years

As a top grain producer Ukraine’s entry would have a huge impact on EU agriculture policy (Alamy/PA)

The European Union has launched membership talks with Ukraine, a decade after Russian troops seized the Crimean Peninsula to deter the country from moving closer to the West, part of a chain of events that set the two neighbours on the path to war.

Ukraine’s accession negotiations were set in motion at an intergovernmental conference in Luxembourg.