The Eastern Front

On Friday morning, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, released a 30-minute video challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin's motives for invading Ukraine and accusing the Russian Ministry of Defense of ordering airstrikes on Wagner fighters. Less than 24 hours later, Wagner forces had taken Rostov-on-Don and were pushing north toward Moscow in an armed rebellion. What seemed...

With the Ukrainian counteroffensive nearly two weeks in, many optimistic observers have been quick to call it a failure. To discuss this mass misunderstanding—and misunderstandings around modern warfare writ-large—Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Phillips O'Brien, American historian and professor of strategic studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. To what extent did Ukraine's un...

It's been nine years since Russian forces invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula. With the likelihood of Russia losing its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine looking ever more promising, is the end of Crimea's occupation finally near? On this week's episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Elina Beketova, a democracy fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysi...

On June 7th, Giselle and Dalibor hosted a special live show of The Eastern Front for the American Enterprise Institute's Summer Honors Program. They share the genesis of the podcast and the broader cultural and political approach to their analyses, discuss their predictions for what a post-war Ukraine might look like, and argue the advantages of a strong US partnership with Ukraine. The live show...

On this week's episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia wrap up some of the most important events from the eastern flank and look ahead at the next few weeks as the Ukrainian counteroffensive begins to pick up steam. Dalibor fills his co-hosts in on his experience at this year's GLOBSEC Forum, including what it reveals about the Western consensus around a clear path towards Ukrai...

From July 11-12, Lithuania is scheduled to host the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius. According to Lithuanian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mantas Adomėnas, the summit's success will be predicated on three principal dimensions: (1) Ukraine's NATO prospects, (2) defense of the eastern flank, and (3) defense spending. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia explore t...

On May 21, Russian forces declared victory in Bakhmut after nearly a year of battle, marking their first seizure over a major city since Severodonetsk and Lysychansk in the summer of 2022. While Russian propagandists have likened the victory in Bakhmut to the Fall of Berlin, analysts at the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) argue that Bakhmut actually lost its (limited) strategic significance b...

Yevgeny Prigozhin is a unique figure among Russian President Vladimir Putin's tight circle of power players. He has no official position within the Kremlin, but controls a network of influential state-backed media outlets and serves as the de-facto head of the Wagner mercenaries. As Putin begins to lose his credibility with the Russian people, is Prigozhin proving to be a formidable threat? On thi...

Over a year into German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's famous Zeitenwende speech calling Russia's invasion of Ukraine a "historic turning point" in Germany's defense policy and pledging €100 billion in increased military spending, many in Washington have criticized Scholz for not following up on its implementation. In this week's episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Amb....

On March 25, 2022, roughly a month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Franziska Brantner, German parliamentary state secretary for economic affairs and climate action, made a case for European sovereignty in a piece for the European Council on Foreign Affairs. In particular, Brantner called for EU investment in military capabilities, cyber security, energy independence, and economic reinforceme...

Now that spring has sprung, Ukraine's long-awaited counteroffensive is predicted to be just around the corner. With Russian resources gradually depleting, additional US resources potentially on the line, and China watching with beading eyes, there is increased pressure for the Ukrainians to mount a successful attack. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle and Iulia bring back retire...

On April 20th, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a surprise visit to Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy—his first since the start of the Russian invasion—and reaffirmed Ukraine’s rightful place in NATO. Indeed, as the NATO summit in July nears, Ukraine’s potential membership is firmly on the table. On this week’s episode of The Eastern Front , Giselle, Dalibor, an...

In 2020, Belarus experienced the largest anti-government demonstrations in its history following the fraudulent re-election of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. While ultimately stymied by regime authorities, the protests were the closest Belarus has come to a democratic revolution. In 2023, just a year into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Belarusians believe a Ukrainian victory might pave...

On the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visit to China to dissuade Xi Jinping from supporting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a series of leaked classified Pentagon documents with sensitive details about the war—including the alleged critical state of Ukraine’s army—made the rounds on social media. To what extent have the documents compromised Ukraine’s position in the war...

Prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, nationalism had been on the rise in Poland. However, the war has slowly led to a shift in the country’s politics, with Poland taking in millions of Ukrainian refugees and supplying weapons to Ukrainians on the frontlines. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Wojciech Przybylski, editor-in-chief of Visegrad Insight and p...

As Finland finalizes its NATO bid, Adm. Juhani Kaskeala (ret.), former chief of defense of the Finnish Defense Forces, joins The Eastern Front to discuss how Finland defends itself against Russian aggression. Adm. Kaskeala explains that Russia primarily threatens Finland’s undersea communication cables and sea trade lanes, requiring the Baltic state to prioritize maritime security and create credi...

As the Russian invasion now surpasses its one-year mark, a growing number of Republicans say the United States is providing too much support to Ukraine. Just last week, Florida Gov.—and presidential hopeful—Ron DeSantis argued that getting involved in a “territorial dispute” between Russia and Ukraine is not in US national interests and that policymakers should instead focus on “vital” issues at h...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined by Danish Brig. Gen. Carsten Rasmussen (ret.) to discuss Denmark and other European countries’ evolution from enjoying the post–Cold War “peace dividend” to scrambling to fortify their militaries after Russia’s invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022. Brig. Gen. Rasmussen explains how Russia fooled the world (and itself) into believing it could win th...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined by Yuliia Fediv, executive director of the Ukrainian Culture Fund and CEO of Hromadske, an independent Ukrainian media organization. Fediv explains that culture includes perceptions about Ukraine, its values, and its people, and she outlines Ukraine’s cultural resurgence since gaining independence from the Soviet Union and after Russia’s invasion of...

In celebration of The Eastern Front’s one-year anniversary, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia convened at a DC Eastern European staple, Supra, to assess what lays ahead for the Russia-Ukraine War. The co-hosts discuss whether US support is enough to set up Ukraine for victory, the fear of Russian escalation, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s leadership, and Ukraine’s integration into NATO, among other iss...

This special edition episode features audio from Russia’s War on Ukraine at Year One, a virtual event co-hosted by  The Eastern Front  and American Purpose on February 21. Gen. Philip Breedlove (ret.), Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges (ret.), and Adm. Jamie Foggo (ret.) combine their experience from the Air Force, Army, and Navy in a single discussion for the first time. Show notes : “ February 21: R...

Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined by podcast regular, Frederick W. Kagan, senior fellow and director of AEI's Critical Threats Project, to reflect on the war one year following Russia's invasion. Kagan recounts Russia's significant losses, re-examines misconceptions about Ukrainian counter offensives, and considers when we will likely witness the next Ukrainian counter off...

Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor are joined by Mark Krutov, a correspondent for Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty's Russian Service. Based on his two decades of experience reporting on Russia, Krutov discusses the media environment in Russia, Russian conscription and mobilization, the Kremlin's narrative about the war in Ukraine being a proxy war against the West, the process of reporting during w...

Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor are joined by Dr. Benjamin Tallis, Senior Research Fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, to discuss all things germane to Germany's "zeitenwende" and the concept of European "neoidealism" (a term coined by Tallis). Tallis outlines where zeitenwende stands today, a year after its announcement. Tallis notes that Germany has "moved at the speed of shame" by ma...

Giselle, Iulia, and Dalibor are joined by Bill Kristol, Editor-at-Large of The Bulwark. Given his recent trip to Germany, Kristol discusses the progress of "Zeitenwende" since German Chancellor Olaf Scholz first announced it in early 2022. Kristol unpacks political opposition - within Germany, across Europe, and in the US - to perceived German hesitance to properly supporting Ukraine. Kristol outl...