War in Ukraine: Update from Kyiv

Greta Uehling , Lecturer in International and Comparative Studies at the University of Michigan, discusses her forthcoming book Everyday War: The Conflict Over Donbas, Ukraine : how the war in Ukraine has been impacting citizens' lives since 2014, responses to the war, and why interpersonal relationships matter for the experience and trajectory of war.  Greta Uehling on Instagram: @greta.uehling G...

James Rodgers is a journalist and author and a Reader in International Journalism at City, University of Moscow, discusses his book Assignment Moscow, working as a foreign correspondent in Moscow in the 1990s and in the 2000s under Putin's regime, the way in which the media environment has changed since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.  Assignment Moscow: Reporting on Russia from Lenin to...

Prof. Paul Goode, McMillan Chair in Russian Studies and Associate Professor at Carleton University discusses top-down nationalism under Putin's regime, impacts of everyday nationalism in Russia, whether nationalism is a key driver of the Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and trajectory of the war.  "We should continue keeping a close eye on Belarus, on Moldova, on the Caucasus... there is a...

Maksym Yali, Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, discusses life in Kyiv following infrastructure attacks across Ukraine that have caused electricity and water shortages as well as Ukrainian resolve, and comments on what we can expect on the battlefront over the winter - and when we might see a further Ukrainian counteroffensive.  Maksym's youtube chann...

Alexander Lanoszka, Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Waterloo, discusses Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century including the purpose of alliances, NATO's response to the war in Ukraine, and how the Ukraine war is likely to shape military alliances in coming decades.   Alexander Lanoszka on Military Alliances in the Twenty First Century  More about Alexan...

Una Bergmane, Research Fellow at the Aleksanteri Institute at the University of Helsinki, discusses Baltic states' independence from the Soviet Union; democratization versus empire; viewing Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine through the echoes of Soviet history; the possiblity of a military clash between Russia and the Baltic countries; and the implications of performative insanity in Russian...

Collin Koh, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technology University, on maritime security concerns in South East Asia; tensions in the South China Sea; China's build-up of maritime forces; Singapore's security concerns; India's maritime power - as well as lessons learnt from the use of maritime force in the war in Ukraine, and whether Russia's invasion o...

Mack Tubridy, Russia researcher, reflects on the response to Russia's invasion within Russia, impact of mobilization & tensions in Georgia following influx of Russian emigres.  "The priority of the ruling elite in Russia is to maintain regime stability... Russia launching an invasion [against Ukraine] invites threats to regime stability" "A lot of people [in. Russia] who should in theory understan...

Botakoz Kassymbekova, Lecturer in Modern History at Universitat Basel, discusses the Soviet Union as a colonial empire: forced resettlement, settler colonialism, humans as territory, the leagacies of colonialism today, and implications for the war in Ukraine. "The difference between settler colonial empires and extractive overseas empires lies in the relationship to land and labour… for settler co...

Paul Lushenko, US Army Lieutenant Colonel, PhD student in International Relations and Deputy Director of the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell University, discusses drone warfare, the use of drones in counterterrorism operations, issues of legitimacy, and the use of drones by both Ukraine and Russia in the war in Ukraine.  More about the Tech Policy Institute at Cornell : A research institute led b...

Stephan Fruehling, Professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, discusses nuclear threats and the war in Ukraine: Would Putin use a nuclear weapon? How can Russia be deterred? And how might the threat of nuclear weapons use - shift the calculus for China - as well as for small and middle powers?  "Nuclear weapons actually aren't really that useful to...

Ian Garner, historian and translator of Russian wartime propaganda, discusses his forthcoming book Stalingrad Lives! that presents narrative wartime reporting on the Battle of Stalingrad, and considers national identity, wartime narratives, and how this legacy reverberates today in Putin's rhetoric around Russia's current war in Ukraine. "The overarching narrative of the battle [of Stalingrad]......

Maksym Yali, Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University on Kyiv, comments on why he believes Russia was likely behind the bombing of the bridge over the Kerch Strait that connects Crimea to Russia, and discusses the atmosphere and resolve in Kyiv following missile attacks on civilan targets and infrastructure.  "Putin does this [the strikes] not to win because it's im...

Denis Kazakiewicz, data analyst and journalist, discusses Belarus and the war in Ukraine: Aleksandr Lukashenko's relationship with Putin, impacts of the war on the Belarusian population, significance of a recently-formed Belarusian-Russian joint military group, and how the war affects Lukashenko's grip on power. "With the joint military group, Lukashenko gave one more piece of sovereignty, of Bela...

Azamat Junisbai, Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College, reflects on growing up an ethnic Kazakh in a Russian-dominated environment in Kazakhstan, Kazakh identity, the economic fallout of the breakdown of the Soviet Union, the legacy of Russian dominance, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and the process of decolonizing one's own mind.   "As an ethnic Kazakh growing up speaking Russian, I not only l...

Lisa Gaufman, Assistant Professor of Russian Discourse and Politics at the University of Groningen, discusses Putin's incoherent ideology and the impact of the mobilization on Putin's perceived legitimacy in Russia and future trajectory.  'There is no coherent ideology... Putin is trying to dress up his land grab into some kind of ideological padding that would resonate with some people who might...

Temur Umarov, Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , discusses Kazakhstan, its relations with Russia, and the war in Ukraine - why has Tokayev refused to support Russia's full-scale invasion? How has Russia's mobilization impacted Kazakhstan? How has the war impacted other Central Asian states?  'What Kazakhstan is doing right now [not supporting the war] is pretty risky. We ha...

Janis Kluge, Senior Researcher at the SWP German Institute for International and Security Affairs, evaluates the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy, EU countries' decoupling from Russian energy imports, and the significance of recent 'leaks' in the Nord Stream pipelines.  "The effect of sanctions is [often] slower than expected... but that does not mean that it is more benign." Follow Janis o...

Ivan Klyszcz, research fellow at the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute and Doctoral Candidate at the University of Tartu, disucsses Putin's mobilization and the North Caucasus - Dagestan, Chechnya, protests and the possible impacts of mobilization.  'the mobilization puts tremendous pressure on the entire Putin system that has been ruling Russia for two decades now, because this system is premised...

Marnie Howlett, Lecturer in Politics at the University of Oxford, discusses findings from her team's latest public opinion survey research in Ukraine - conductin surveys during a full-scale war, sentiment in Ukraine on territory, sovereignty, Ukrainians categorical opposition to conceding territory or accepting Russian-backed control and implications of this for the war going forward.  The survey...

Oleksandr Seredyuk, graduate student at Ca'Foscari University of Venice and researcher with the Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement think tank , discusses growing up in Ukraine, Russian colonialism, the war in Ukraine, and Russian disunity as Ukraine gains on the battelfield. Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement: glueinstitute.org Follow the GLUE institute on twitter: @gloleaders Follow Oleks...

Maxim Alyukov, Postdoctoral Fellow at the King's College London Russia Institute, and Andrei Semenov, Senior Researcher at the Center for Comparative Historical and Political Studies, discuss their recent report on Russian propaganda setbacks and the war in Ukraine, including a large-scale analysis of the differences between how Russian state media and Russian social media discuss the war in Ukrai...

Oleksander Kraiev, Director of the North America Program at the Ukrainian Prism Foreign Policy Council, comments on the counteroffensive with a view from Ukraine: restoring Ukraine's 1991 territorial borders, why taking back Crimea is increasingly realistic, Russia's logistical challenges, how Russian media channels are discussing the counteroffensive, and how Ukraine's more modern combat style co...

Oxana Shevel, Associate Professor of Political Science at Tufts University, discusses Ukrainian national identity, diversity, pluralism, changes since 2014 and since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 and optimism for Ukraine's future.  Russia's annexation of Crimea and incursions into Urkaine in 2014 caused "the part of the country that was the most pro-Russian to get cut off from voting in Ukr...

Nona Shahnazarian, Senior Research Fellow at the National Academy of Sciences in Yerevan, Armenia, comments on the impact of the war on Yerevan, including an influx of Russian citizens to Yerevan post-24-Feb, and discusses the trauma of loss, how the effects of conflict reverberate beyond the conflict itself.  "trauma is not only a one-time event but also a process... it's deeply traumatic to be f...