The European Union member states construct their development according to development plans, programs and strategies of a country, region or certain territory. Elaboration of these important documents requires certain structure, concrete research and stages of financing. With the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, the latter has gained an opportunity to use certain EU financial instruments. However, it can use such a change only if it develops its strategic objectives and tasks in accordance with mechanisms and goals provide by European Union. Therefore, Ukraine’s major problem nowadays is the fact that strategic documents of the country’s development are formulaic, they do not examine the problems of the regions and their conditions and do not establish the monitoring of efficient operation of the documents. The paper aims to outline the European Union instruments and mechanisms worth implementing in the framework of Ukraine’s cross-border cooperation. The paper presents major documents in Ukraine that influence the operational cycle of programming, in particular the Sustainable Development Strategy «Ukraine 2020», national programs of Ukraine’s development in various branches, strategies of oblasts’, regions’ and the other administrative and territorial units’ development. The interdependence of policy, programs and projects of the EU and Ukraine are shown. Main elements and structure of Strategic document to be adopted by the country are outlined. National Indicative Programs is analyzed with its major elements: global objectives defined on the basis of EU and countries’ development priorities; financial framework in each cooperation sphere, duration and sum of each payment of beneficiaries; concrete goals and expected results for each cooperation sphere, including the major parameters and results of cooperation; methods to identify problems, e.g. gender equality, environmental protection, etc; programs to be introduced in order to achieve global and concrete goals (e. g. macroeconomic and technical assistance, investment, trainings, etc). An example of adherence to EU regulations in the process of programming on the development of the 2020 Strategy of Podkarpackie voivodeship development and 2014-2020 Strategy of Lubelskie voivodeship development, which cover the Ukrainian-Polish cross-border region, is explained. 

programming, Country’s strategic document, National indicative program, EU, cross-border region