His opinion is perfectly reasonable. Even without the war, Ukraine is extremely far from EU accession standards. It was very nearly a failed state in the early 2010s. Nobody West of the Elbe river wants to deal with yet another ultra-conservative and corrupt state, at least certainly not while veto powers exist.
> so what if they currently have issues, they will in time improve
Or they'll take EU cohesion funds to fuel cronyism and populism as their neighbours did.
People not familiar with Ukraine just do not realize how much Kremlin influence fueled corruption and criminal activities in the countries. Transnistria (Russian occupied territory in Moldova) is literally a criminal state, had huge impact on the the southern parts, ORDLO became the same in recent years. To the north Belarus is a dictatorship, not exactly the honest trade partner.
> so what if they currently have issues, they will in time improve
Or they'll take EU cohesion funds to fuel cronyism and populism as their neighbours did.