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Tag: Russia’s war against Ukraine

Resistance, resilience, recovery: Ukraine’s civil society in wartime

Since gaining independence in 1991, Ukraine’s civil society has grown into one of the most vibrant and resilient in the region, playing a central role in shaping the country’s democratic path and pro-European identity. Throughout this time, citizens have mobilized in defence of human rights, sovereignty and political accountability. This civic strength became essential in responding to Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 and this is still true today.

September 27, 2025 - Liza Bezvershenko

In Ukraine, resilience is a matter of survival

Ukrainian resilience has many dimensions, but during wartime it rests on two priorities: protecting civilians and sustaining the defence effort. As former deputy minister for communities, territories and infrastructure, Oleksandra Azarkhina, noted in a recent discussion, crucial steps taken in the early days – and even before the full-scale invasion – form the core of Ukraine’s resilience today.

September 24, 2025 - Bohdan Tierokhin

Consequences and complications of Russian drones in NATO airspace

Poland's decision to shoot down Russian aerial assets was unprecedented for NATO’s eastern flank. Despite the limited scale of the provocation, the operation demonstrated that NATO interoperability remains at a high level. In reaction to Russia’s actions, Poland invoked Article 4 of the North Atlantic Treaty and requested urgent consultations, which took place on September 10th.

September 16, 2025 - Jakub Bornio

Russian drones in Poland, will NATO pass the test?

NATO has the opportunity to demonstrate its own strength without a direct military clash with Russia if it takes decisive steps after this provocation. Otherwise, new attempts by the Russian side to penetrate the Alliance’s airspace will be even more large-scale and provocative.

September 11, 2025 - Anton Naychuk

Why the Black Sea is vital to Ukraine

Ukraine’s successes in the Black Sea are among the most unexpected developments in the current war waged by Russia in the country since 2022. Russia aimed to defeat Ukraine not only through military means but also by crippling its economy. This scenario did not materialize. On the contrary, Ukraine's military, economic and logistical gains in the Black Sea and Danube waterways secured critical export revenues for Kyiv, allowing the Ukrainian state to function.

On February 24th 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine not only from land and air, but also from the sea. The Russian fleet occupied the entire Azov Sea and almost all of the Ukrainian Black Sea basin. At first, the Russians captured the strategically important Snake Island located near the coast of Romania. For several months they also occupied Kherson and its seaport, as well as attempted a landing at Odesa. They blocked Ukrainian ports to strangle the economy, drive the state budget into bankruptcy and cause social unrest. The Kremlin hoped that the lack of export revenues would in the end lead to Kyiv’s capitulation.

July 8, 2025 - Jakub Łoginow

Zelenskyy has a lot of cards

An interview with Major General Mick Ryan. Interview by Vazha Tavberidze.

June 9, 2025 - Mick Ryan Vazha Tavberidze

Collectively, we are losing this war

An interview with Serhiy Sydorenko, editor of European Pravda. Interviewers: Adam Reichardt and Iwona Reichardt, New Eastern Europe

May 6, 2025 - New Eastern Europe Serhiy Sydorenko

Will Trump’s peace-making efforts increase the likelihood of a bigger war?

While the US tries to present itself as an honest broker engaged in shuttle diplomacy, it is difficult not to perceive its efforts as favouring the Russian side. Even before negotiations with Russia had started, the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, said Ukraine’s NATO membership and the possibility of recapturing territories occupied by Russia were off limits.

After two months of botched peace-making efforts, the administration of Donald Trump has made little progress in bringing the war in Ukraine closer to an end. Simultaneously, the new US government has sought to disengage from Europe and exposed its weakness. If Trump decides to put pressure on Ukraine to end the war on terms that favour Russia, it will make a bigger war in Europe practically inevitable.

May 6, 2025 - Yulia Kazdobina

Where do Ukrainians find the strength to stand?

Hope and anxiety are the two feelings that Ukrainians are experiencing the most during the current war. A recent survey shows that for 55 per cent of Ukrainians, the strongest feeling that they were experiencing at the end of 2024 was hope. Anxiety came in second with 45 per cent.

The winter of 1948. Europe is returning back to normal life after the years of the Second World War. European nations are preparing to conclude the Brussels Pact. Formally known as the Treaty of Brussels, this agreement was signed on March 17th 1948 by Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. In other words, these were the members of the Western Union, which operated as an expansion of the Treaty of Dunkirk.

May 6, 2025 - Olha Vorozhbyt

Anti-colonial hybrid defence: how Ukraine’s resistance fights in the occupied territories

Between 2022 and 2025 Ukraine’s resistance managed to inflict persistent losses and disruption on Russian forces in the occupied territories. The kinds of operation – from bombs and bullets to spies and sabotage as well as raids and ambushes – show a comprehensive guerrilla strategy aimed at eroding the occupier’s control. Ukrainian partisans first blunted the occupation through fear and attrition and later became an integral part of Ukraine’s broader hybrid defence strategy to reclaim its territory.

“Join the ranks of Atesh – we call on every conscious person who is ready to help us defeat the occupiers to join our ranks,” reads a leaflet from Ukraine’s partisan movement. The leaflet was not distributed in Crimea, where Atesh – meaning “Fire” in the Crimean Tatar language – originated. Nor was it distributed in Mariupol, Berdyansk, Donetsk or Luhansk, where Atesh’s partisans have struck and continue to strike.

May 6, 2025 - Omar Ashour

The faces of resilience

Ukrainians are reclaiming their roots and identity, flooding cultural venues in defiance. This highlights a disconnect the West fails to understand. War here is not just about soldiers and weapons: it is a rallying cry for the entire society.

My trip back home to Germany, after visiting Kyiv and Lviv, awaits. But before leaving, I meet Olga Myrovych, head of the Lviv Media Forum. This non-profit organization champions media independence and public dialogue in Ukraine. In a warm Lviv café, the contrast to the weight of our conversation is stark. After a week of intense reporting, I ask the question that has grown ever more urgent: how can the world truly grasp Ukraine’s fight for survival?

May 5, 2025 - Isabelle de Pommereau

Overcoming the crisis of hope

An interview with Agnieszka Holland, a Polish film director. Interviewer: Joanna Mosiej, editor in chief of the Sestry magazine

JOANNA MOSIEJ: You once said that your biggest dream is for the world to wake up and for us to have a future. Are we now living in a reality that resembles the Weimar Republic in its final days? Meaning, there is no hope and no return? That history needs to repeat itself?

AGNIESZKA HOLLAND: I am worried that it will be difficult to reverse from this path, unless there is a true will to do so. Of course we know that hope is what dies last, but this hope needs to be a collective, and not individual, experience. At this moment, when I am observing those who decide on our fate, I see that they neither have any ideas, nor will. And there is no courage.

May 5, 2025 - Agnieszka Holland Joanna Mosiej

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