Despite Russia’s ongoing invasion, a number of prominent international figures and commentators have recently suggested that Ukraine should proceed with the country’s scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections. Some have argued that Ukraine should do so even while fighting for its survival, possibly as soon as spring 2024. These suggestions have raised eyebrows across Ukraine’s political
More than three months since the start of Ukraine’s much hyped counteroffensive, the slow progress of the Ukrainian military is fueling a new round of calls for a return to the negotiating table. But while many in the West are now arguing that some kind of compromise agreement with the Kremlin is inevitable, it would
Vladimir Putin’s September 13 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was accompanied by plenty of pomp and platitudes, but even the Kremlin’s top spin doctors could not disguise the sense of quiet desperation that hung over the event. Indeed, while the summit itself concluded without any formal announcements, the mere fact that the
War can bring out the best in people, but it also sadly takes away many of the best among us. Around one-third of the more than six hundred member companies at the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (AmCham Ukraine) have seen employees killed during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Almost half of all
In early September, Russia staged sham parliamentary elections in occupied regions of southern and eastern Ukraine as Moscow attempted to legitimize its earlier illegal annexation of five Ukrainian provinces. While the international community strongly condemned the ballots, Russian officials are expected to use the rigged elections for propaganda purposes as the Kremlin seeks to disguise
With attention at NATO’s July summit in Vilnius firmly focused on Ukraine’s membership prospects, the absence of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili received relatively little attention. And yet this absence reflected an ongoing geopolitical shift in the wider Black Sea region with potentially major consequences for international security. While Russia is losing in Ukraine, there
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Kremlin has repeatedly employed nuclear threats to deter countries from arming Ukraine. This extreme tactic has proven highly effective against risk-averse Western leaders, who have deliberately slow-walked the flow of weapons to Ukraine for fear of provoking a nuclear response. Such caution could have
Over the past eighteen months, Ukraine’s ability to overcome the destruction and disruption created by Russia’s invasion has been so striking that some outside observers have even questioned the reality of the war. Every so often, video footage of Ukrainians engaged in everyday activities appears on social media accompanied by suggestions that the situation in
The first line of the Ukrainian national anthem is perhaps best translated as “Ukraine’s glory has not yet perished.” Written in the middle of the nineteenth century at a time when the Russian imperial authorities were attempting to suppress all expressions of Ukrainian national identity, the anthem remains highly relevant and perfectly captures the determination
There are few more meaningful public holidays on the 2023 calendar than Ukrainian Independence Day. However, with the country locked in a brutal fight for national survival, few are in the mood to celebrate. Instead, this week’s thirty-second anniversary of the 1991 declaration of independence is an opportunity to reflect on the deep historical roots
