Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World

Ukraine’s economy has been one of the main bright spots after two years of brutal fighting. With decent preparation work undertaken over the past few years, and continued aid from Western partners, there has not been a bank run, there has not been an economic collapse, and Ukraine has been able to continue fighting the Russian invaders. However, as the war drags on and contributions of aid from We...

The war in Ukraine has evolved a huge amount since it began nearly 2 years ago, not least in terms of the equipment now being used on the front lines. This has been most starkly seen in the use of drones, as these unmanned aerial technologies are now at the forefront of reconnaissance and combat operations for both sides. Ukraine’s drone industry, once chaotic and decentralised, is now one of the...

President Zelensky has said he wants to call up 450,000 - 500,000 new troops to the Ukrainian army in 2024. And recently, there have been proposed law changes to bring this through - laws that include more punishment against evasion, lowering the mobilisation age, and even setting a time limit for demobilisation. But this law is pretty controversial, causing debate in Ukrainian society against par...

As 2024 begins, the outlook for Ukraine is generally pessimistic, with foreign aid dwindling and the counter offensive stalled. But there is cause for optimism: Ukraine’s businesses and the economy remain resilient. Since the beginning of the full scale invasion, the business sector has been one of the flexible, not collapsing in the way many predicted. Ukrainians’ entrepreneurial spirit has maint...

2023 was a really difficult year for Ukraine. People expected that after the Kharkiv and Kherson counter offensives to spawn a whole host of military successes, but in reality, things were more difficult. The counteroffensive stalled, and meanwhile, Western support has started to fracture. But internally, the country has also changed: where once we saw an extremely united front, now politics is ba...

The Western response to the war in Ukraine surprised the world in 2022 in how unified it was. European leaders and the US stood together in solidarity against Russia’s brutal aggression, a rare moment of togetherness amidst other divisions. But in late 2023? Well, the situation is mixed. Increasingly sophisticated military equipment continues to be sent to Ukraine, but will it prove to be the wund...

Getting in the mind of Vladimir Putin is a notoriously difficult, and indeed thankless, task. Russia analysts have long tried to predict what the Russian President and the Kremlin he dominates is thinking, but often to no avail. It was shown in the surprise by so many when Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022, and continues as the war has dragged on. But this week on Power Lines,...

Ukraine, and Eastern Europe more generally, have long had a demographic problem. Since the fall of the Soviet Union and independence across the region, labour migration and other trends have seen millions of working age people migrate to the West or to Russia in search of work. Combined with the demographic catastrophe brought on by the war since 2014 and the full scale invasion, the number of you...

On Sunday October 15th, Poland went to the polls to elect a new government. As one of Europe’s most significant economic motors and a key spokesperson for Eastern Europe more generally, many saw this election as a barometer for where the world stands in the global battle between liberal and populist political movements. And more than that, as the logistics hub for the war in Ukraine, the result wa...

Under its constitution, Ukraine is meant to be in the midst of parliamentary and presidential elections over the coming months. But there’s a hitch - under martial law Ukraine’s constitution prevents it from holding them. But there’s a case being made to change this and hold them anyway. So what would be the benefit? Would elections bolster Zelensky’s support, or unleash unnecessary chaos in a cou...

Last year, Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine changed the world. But with the conflict reaching a kind of stasis, the questions surrounding it have changed. With interviews with world leading analysts and thinkers, Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World season 2 will prove why this war still matters to everyone across the globe, while looking ahead at the practical applications that will allo...

What is it like to live through the psychological pain of war? How can you heal the trauma of genocide? How do you rebuild a country when a generation has been lost to war? Rebuilding Ukraine will not solely be about creating new cities and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure, there will need to be a new sense of a nation, one not cowed by Russia’s aggression, but stronger and more unified because...

This week, it’s our last Q&A of the season. We reached out to our listeners on Twitter to see what they wanted answered on rebuilding, both now and after the war. We received a lot of questions, but most can be boiled down to: how on earth are we going to pay for this?  Jakub and Nastya discuss the possibility of Russian reparations, foreign investment and post-war tourism.  Sign up for 'Power Lin...

The aftermath of war leaves physical scars in its wake. The abject destruction of landscapes and cities like Kherson, Kharkiv and Mariupol will take tens of years and maybe even a trillion dollars to rebuild, while systemic infrastructure like healthcare and energy plants have been equally affected. So where do you begin when you have to rebuild a country destroyed by war? Who pays for it? And wha...

This week, Jakub and Nastya are speaking to Anna Myroniuk, the head of investigations at the Kyiv Independent. They discuss the complexities of reporting on Ukraine’s corruption in the current climate, offering unique insight into the duty of the media during war.  Since its founding, The Kyiv Independent has always been at the forefront of reporting on corruption within Ukraine’s government. Then...

The humanitarian response to the full scale invasion of Ukraine has been immense - an outpouring of good will from people across Europe and indeed the world. But when it comes to the large aid organisations facilitating it, the story becomes more blurred. From Amnesty International to the Red Cross, there have been major blind spots, including reports situating the Ukrainian army as aggressors, to...

This week, Jakub and Nastya are doing a special Q&A episode on the Russian Intelligence Services. We reached out to our listeners on Twitter to discuss the things you really wanted answered on the FSB, the GRU and the history of this most secretive of organisations. Expect answers to questions like: what is the history of tension between the Russian military and the FSB? Are these agencies focused...

For years, Putin has used his intelligence, including the FSB and the GRU, to try and understand Europe - what they are thinking, how they would react to a crisis of war. The failure of Russia’s intelligence to predict Ukraine’s commitment to defending itself and Europe’s response of solidarity shows their failures. But what role do the Russian intelligence services play in modern warfare? And wha...

In this week’s episode, we again take a look into Cyber Warfare, this time from a more policy focused perspective, as Jakub speaks with Lauren Zabariek, the executive director of Harvard’s Belfer Centre.  Lauren tells us about the various ways in which hackers across the globe are seeking to attack foreign targets, how this has affected the war in Ukraine, and the ways in which countries like the...

The war in Ukraine is being fought by land, sea, air… and online. Russia, has long been infamous for its hacking and aggressive cyber warfare capabilities, having previously been responsible for devastating attacks in Ukraine and across the world. But how effective have they really been during the war? And what about the fightback?  In this episode, we speak to Andy Greenberg, the journalist and a...

For many Ukrainians, holiday celebrations will look different this year. Some are in foreign countries, separated from friends and family. Some will have an empty seat at the dinner table. Christmas lights will be a little dimmer. In this special festive bonus episode, we’re catching up with various Ukrainian guests we’ve had on throughout the series to hear about their holiday plans and hopes for...

The 20th century saw the development of an international rule-based order dictated by the United States, with countries tacitly abiding by certain rules in order to trade and prosper with guaranteed security. But now that Russia has removed itself from this system through horrific actions that many deem to be state-sponsored terrorism – even genocide – what does this mean for the future of interna...

For this week’s bonus episode, we’re speaking more about Roman Ratushnyi, the Ukrainian activist who fought to preserve Kyiv’s green spaces, and was tragically killed by Russian soldiers earlier this year.  We hear from two of Roman’s close friends: Arthur Kharytonov, the President of the Liberal Democratic League of Ukraine, and Maryna Khromykh, an Executive Director of DEJURE Foundation. Arthur...

The demise of the USSR in the 1990s saw the state's vast wealth up for grabs by enterprising citizens; in making the public into the private, a new class of both Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs were born. For decades they played a pivotal role in both local – and often international – politics. But this era may be coming to an end. In both countries, political power is bringing the rich to heel. W...

This week’s bonus episode is an extended interview with Bektour Iskender, a journalist and co-founder of Kloop, an NGO and leading news publication in Kyrgyzstan. Through his work with Kloop, Bektour trains young journalists to cover politics and investigate corruption, while also reporting on the most significant stories happening in his home country and near abroad. We spoke to Bektour about his...