Two years on: How is Ukraine adapting to a long-term war?

Euronews Reporter Valérie Gauriat travels to Kyiv and the Donbas to see how Ukraine’s population are coping with a conflict that has become part of their daily lives.

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More than 10,000 civilians have died since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022. Many hoped the fighting would be shortlived, however, the conflict, now in its third year, has evolved into a war of attrition.

On a rainy day in February, Antonina Danylevich, the wife of a Ukrainian soldier, and a few dozen women, had gathered in Kyiv to call for shorter terms of service for soldiers mobilised on the frontline since the first days of the war.

“My husband has been in the combat zone for two years. In all this time he only had 30 days off. Our men should be replaced, they should have time to rest. And after that, if they want to go back, then fine,” Antonina told Euronews.

An absence hard-felt

Every Saturday, in a secret location at the edge of the Ukrainian capital, groups of women partake in military training sessions, under the aegis of ‘Ukraine Walkyrie’.

Daryna Trebukh founded the course after Russian troops withdrew from the Kyiv region in March 2022. “After what happened in Bucha and Irpin, our women were defenceless, they were under occupation and they didn’t know how to protect themselves. So I decided to start this school of survival, to teach women how to defend themselves,” she explained.

Daryna and her trainees expect a long-lasting war. Kateryna, a doctor, stop to talk to us after finishing a shooting drill. Her husband has been on the frontline for two years: “My daughter is very interested in what I do here. She can’t wait to turn 14 in a few months, the age at which she’s allowed to start military training, not with real weapons, but with strikeballs for instance. I wish it wasn’t, but war could well be part of her future”, she sighs .

The war, an experimentation field

Ukrainian students are also learning to adapt to the war. We visit the prestigious Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. Many courses are now carried out remotely.

But a new ultra-secure space has been set up to allow students to work on site in times of war.

“In this modern shelter, students and teachers can work in a safe and comfortable way,when there are no alerts, and when the alert is on”, says vice-rector Vitali Pasichnyk.

Generators, ventilation systems, internet connection, rest areas, nothing has been left out. Funded by companies, the initiative must be replicated in other universities in the country.

“If you don’t support young students, they could leave Ukraine. You can create innovations here, build businesses. This is more than just a reaction to Russia’s aggression. It’s an investment in our future.”, smile Pasichnyk.

We follow 20 year old Ivan to one of the Institute’s research lab. He and a group of co-students are busy assembling an electronic stretcher that can be controlled remotely and used to transport wounded soldiers away from the frontline.

“It takes three or four people to carry a wounded soldier with equipment, but with this, you just place him on the stretcher and drive him away remotely,” explained Ivan.

Beyond participating in the war effort, the students have ambitions for the future. “We are gaining skills with this project. My dream is to help develop Ukraine and create modern enterprises, to produce new and competitive things. We have huge potential” he added.

One of the budding sectors of the future is drone manufacturing. Hundreds of drone factories have sprung up all over Ukraine in the past two years. 

Airlogix gave Euronews a tour; approximately thirty surveillance and reconnaissance drones are dispatched from its factory every month.

“They allow our armed forces to fly deep into enemy lines and identify enemy equipment, such as air defence systems, electronic warfare, armoury, warehouses, and so on,” said CEO Vitalii Kolisnichenko.

“You need to be technologically advanced in this war. We consider drones to be key to our victory.” 

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Starting from a small cargo drones manufacture, with around ten employees two years ago, Vitalii now employs a hundred people. He plans to double production soon and extend it to kamikaze and bomber drones.

An expansion supported by the Ukrainian state. Tax cuts, or the increase in the profit thresholds authorized for military contracts, have favored the birth of hundreds of factories like this one.

“That’s quite a boost for companies like ours, because we reinvest. We continuously try to invent technologies that will help us gain our victory.”

In the long run, Kolisnichenko believes drones could become a top Ukrainian export and help drive the country’s economy: “I think eventually, Ukraine will become the centre of unmanned technologies, for the whole world.”

We leave Kyiv, to head for the regions close to the front line, which extends over a thousand kilometers in the south and east of Ukraine.

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Areas which concentrate a large part of the country’s industrial infrastructure, much exposed to Russian bombings.

Set at the edge of the city of Zaporizhzhia, stands one of the largest steel factories in Ukraine.

Iron will

Zaporizhstal became the country’s leading producer of steel and cast iron, after the destruction of the sadly famous Azovstal site during the Battle of Mariupol, in the first months of the full-scale invasion.

In two years, the factory lost a quarter of its 10,000 employees, mobilized or gone to safer areas in the country or abroad.

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The site now operates at 70 percent of its capacity. Not without obstacles.

«The main type of logistics for metallurgy industries was sea logistics. We were forced to move to railway transport, which is four times more expensive. And also we can’t import all the raw material we need, nor can we reach the volumes at which we need to sell our products.” says CEO Roman Slobodianuk.

Set some 40 kilometers away from the frontline, the factory is under constant threat. But the workers are holding on.

Maksym used to work at the Azovstal factory, and was able to find a job here. “I can’t avoid thinking about the dangers about the war. But we are human beings, we have to live, to distract ourselves, and we don’t lose hope. We work for our victory. »

Distracting from the war is a challenge, for adults and children alike.

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We end our visit to Zaporizhzhia in an extra-curricular activity center that we cannot identify for security reasons. The climbing session we were due to film was interrupted just before our arrival.

«There was an alert, we sent our children to the bomb shelter.”, aplologises Galyna, the centre’s director. We join the children in the shelter. “We are used to the alerts, there are 9 or 10 of them a day, smiles 13 year old Veronika.  “At the beginning of the war I was afraid of alarms. Now I am used to them, and to shellings, to drones flying, all those things…”

The alert is over. The children hurry back to their climbing session. With the war, activities organized for children have been adapted to the war context.

Living from one alert to another

“We are teaching children not only how to travel in the mountains, how to orient themselves on the terrain, but also how to provide first aid, and how to transport victims, to different areas and in different conditions.”, explains Svitlana Bebeshko, head trainer at the centre.

The children’s moment of respite is short-lived, as another siren shrieks out. “That’s how we work, from one alert to the next alert. But we’re not afraid of them!” says Galyna, shrugging.

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We hit the road again towards the East, and the Donetsk region, in the Donbass, where the war of attrition continues its ravages.

A veterinarian during the weekend, Evgeniy Tkachov spends the rest of his time helping people in towns and villages close to the front line.

He takes us to the town of Selydove, set some 20 kilometers away from the frontline. Evgeniy and his team from the Proliska ngo had organized distribution of basic goods and wooden panels for residents whose homes were shattered by overnight Russian shellings.

“Every day there are more and more people in need. Apart from the fact that we give humanitarian aid, we call people to evacuate and leave. People have spent their whole lives in these small mining towns. So, it’s very hard for them to go elsewhere.”, explains Tkachov.

« We have nowhere to go”, sighs Inna, one of the residents. “We’ll rent an apartment. We hope that at least it will be quiet. And we will be able to come back here. We hope each day that it will end soon. Or everything will be destroyed.”

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We end our journey in the village of Selydove, set a dozen kilometers away from point zero. Rows of torn out houses offer a desolate sight.

Most residents have left to safer areas. Oleksandr is one of around twenty villagers, out of some 150, who decided to stay, despite the proximity of the fighting and harsh living conditions. His wife left for safety in a neighboring town after their home was bombed.

But he stayed on. He shows us the two small rooms he now lives in, after rebuilding the roof and walls. Oleksandr lives on food and basic necessities delivered each week by volunteers. But leaving is not an option.

“This is my land. It’ s my father’s land, the land of my grandfather and my great-grandfather. Why should I go anywhere?” he exclaims, as explosions tear the air. “No one would have stayed here if they didn’t believe that we were going to win, that the war would end with our victory.”

One of the soldiers operating in the area pays us an unexpected visit.

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« I’m coming from the frontline. It’s hard. The fighting is ongoing. They’re trying to capture Avdiivka. They’re coming, they’re coming !”, says the soldier, sternly. “War is the hardest job that ever could be in this life” he sighs, before heading off. “I’m on my way, to serve the Motherland”.

A few days later, the town of Avdiivka fell into the hands of the Russian army.

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Ukrainians and Russians in Berlin in solidarity against war

Last weekend marked the second grim anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many people around the world commemorated this day by taking to the streets in big cities.

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Last weekend marked the second grim anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Many people around the world commemorated this day by taking to the streets in big cities. In Berlin, the protest was organised by Vitsche, an association of young Ukrainians based in Germany. The group organises protests, cultural and educational gatherings, offers support to refugees, and coordinates humanitarian efforts for Ukraine with the aim of amplifying Ukrainian voices in Germany.

The term “vitsche” has a long history within the Ukrainian language, dating back to the early stages of Ukrainian society, around the sixth century. It refers to a council that collectively makes decisions and enacts changes to serve the community. That’s why the group has chosen this name for their organisation, recognising its deep significance in Ukrainian heritage.

Before the full-scale invasion, the group already had a feeling of the horrors that were going to follow. Their first protest took place one month before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, when tensions were running high at the border. Back then, their protests were quite small. This year, several thousand people have joined their demonstration.

For two years now, Vitsche has been dealing with the war on a daily basis by raising awareness on their social media channels and organising events. Press speaker, Krista-Marija Läbe, says they don’t want to feel or convey that nothing can be done. “The situation is even more serious than it was two years ago, but we can still make a significant difference. We have the means to continue supporting Ukraine so that it can win this war. Therefore, each of our members is committed to ensuring that people understand how Ukraine can be helped and that it needs to happen quickly. That gives us tremendous strength,” she added.

Losing this war could mean losing our national identity

Krista was born in Ukraine but grew up in Germany. Although she herself has been lucky enough to have no casualties in her family, some of her family members had to flee Ukraine. “I worry about my two younger nephews; the elder, now 13, may be conscripted if the war goes on.” This struggle is not just about physical safety, but also about preserving our Ukrainian identity and existence. “Losing this war could mean losing our national identity. It’s a concern shared by many, including myself, who fear we may never be able to return to Ukraine. The toll has been immense, with countless friends, family, and colleagues facing unimaginable losses over the past two years,” Krista told me.

There is no doubt that Ukrainians want to continue defending their country and liberating the occupied territories because there simply is no alternative. “The alternative is for the entire Ukraine to look like the occupied territories now,” said Krista. “There are no human rights, there is no rule of law there, children and civilians are abducted, there are torture chambers – there is no safety for these people.”

More can be done

“I need ammunition, not a ride” is what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has allegedly said after having been offered to evacuate two years ago when the war started. This statement still rings true today. Ukraine is currently suffering from an ammunition shortage, which has led to the withdrawal of strategic key-points, such as Avdiivka. But more can be done, said Krista. “Even if the US elections don’t go our way, we can still do something. We can provide much more support – with weapons, financially, and by transferring Russian assets to Ukraine.”

Krista adds: “There’s so much room for action, even within international law. I expect the rest of Europe to step up their support because our entire future is at stake, as is the future of the entire continent. We’re in a very difficult situation, but we must not give up. We need to continue supporting Ukraine. This year will be extremely tough. It will be a difficult year for Ukraine, starting under the worst conditions with a shortage of ammunition. We don’t have enough ammunition to support cities with air defences, nor do we have enough at the front lines. Yet, Ukrainians are refusing to give up.”

The war has already arrived in Germany

From Berlin, despite the frontline being over 2,000 kilometres away, Krista emphasises that the war has already reached Germany. “It’s also an information war, and Russian disinformation has been active here for years. We simply need to raise greater awareness that we have been directly affected by it for a long time,” she said. Since the start of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the German government has observed a rise in disinformation from Russian-controlled media and diplomatic channels. According to the Federal Interior Ministry, Russian government bodies are increasingly using various channels to manipulate perceptions, justifying their actions and vilifying Ukraine while portraying the West as hostile.

Dimitri Androssov: I called my friends in Ukraine and cried

Dimitri Androssov fled Russia in May 2022 and now works at the German Bundestag. He faced persecution in his home country for protesting against the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The 24th of February is particularly painful for him. “I didn’t sleep at all that night,” he said. “The first reports from Ukraine came in around five in the morning. That speech by Putin… It was an eerie feeling. I called my friends in Ukraine and cried.”

Shortly after, Androssov called for protests against the war on social media. He started protesting as soon as he could and soon after got arrested. When he was released in March of the same year, he tried to engage in anti-war activities. In May, he was arrested again and beaten and choked at the police station. After that, he left his homeland.

He firmly believes there will be no end to the war until Russian troops are defeated in Ukraine. “It is up to the West to support Ukraine so strongly that it is able to free itself,” he told Euronews. 

While the West has now understood the true intentions of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the nature of his regime is still not clear to many people. “These people, who call themselves elites, all either come from the former Communist Party of the USSR or from the KGB secret police, like Putin himself. That’s their mentality, their way of thinking, the methods they employ, what they aspire to,” Androssov said.

Nevertheless, he remains hopeful about Russia’s future. “As a member of the Party of People’s Freedom (PARNAS), I am convinced that Russia can have a good, peaceful, and free future,” Androssov said. “There are educated, intelligent people who unfortunately currently have no chance to influence events in their country. If Ukraine wins the war, there is a chance that these people will return to Russia and participate in shaping the future of my homeland.”

The trained political scientist, Germanist, and German teacher has a deep connection to Germany; ten years ago, he completed an internship at the German Bundestag. However, the thought of the war never leaves him: “Germany is a very good place to live, but when you are always in contact with people affected by war, who have their relatives, their families in Ukraine, then I believe, no matter where you are in the world – in Germany, Africa, or America – you cannot shake off these thoughts.”

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Russia’s war in Ukraine has been knocking on your door, too

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

Two years on, we know that if Russia succeeds, we will find ourselves in a world that will be dangerous for everyone without exception, Oleksandra Matviichuk writes.

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I don’t know what historians in the future will call this historical period. But we happen to live in rather challenging times. 

The world order, based on the Charter of the UN and international law, is collapsing before our eyes. 

The international peace and security system established after World War II provided unjustified indulgences for certain countries. It did not cope well with global challenges before, but now it is stalling and reproducing ritualistic movements. 

The work of the UN Security Council is paralyzed. We have entered a highly volatile period in history, and now fires will occur more and more frequently in different parts of the world because the world’s wiring is faulty and sparks are everywhere.

A conflict of what makes us human

Samuel Huntington predicted that new global conflicts would arise between different civilizations. 

I live in Kyiv, and my native city, like thousands of other Ukrainian cities, is being shelled not only by Russian missiles but also by Iranian drones. 

China is helping Russia circumvent sanctions and import technologies critical to warfare. North Korea sent Russia more than a million artillery shells. Syria votes at the UN General Assembly in support of Russia. 

We are dealing with the formation of an entire authoritarian bloc. As much as Russia, Iran, China, Syria, and North Korea are “different civilizations”, according to Huntington’s views, they pose a crucial common feature. 

All these regimes that have taken power in their countries have the same idea of what a human being is. That is why this is not a conflict of civilizations. This is a conflict of what makes us human.

Authoritarian leaders consider people as objects of control and deny them rights and freedoms. 

Democracies consider people, their rights and freedoms to be of the highest value. There is no way to negotiate this. 

The existence of the free world always threatens dictatorships with the loss of power. That’s because human beings inherently have a desire for freedom.

Therefore, when we talk about Russia’s war against Ukraine, we are not talking about a war between two states. This is a war between two systems — authoritarianism and democracy. 

If Russia succeeds, we’ll live in a world dangerous for everyone

Russia wants to convince the entire world that freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law are fake values because they do not protect anyone in times of war. 

Russia wants to convince that a state with a powerful military potential and nuclear weapons can break the world order, dictate its rules to the international community and even forcibly change internationally recognized borders.

If Russia succeeds, it will encourage authoritarian leaders in various parts of the world to do the same. The international system of peace and security does not protect people any more. 

Democratic governments will be forced to invest money not in education, health care, culture or business development, not in solving global problems such as climate change or social inequality, but in weapons. 

We will witness an increase in the number of nuclear states, the emergence of robotic armies and new weapons of mass destruction. 

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If Russia succeeds and this scenario comes true, we will find ourselves in a world that will be dangerous for everyone without exception.

It’s not post-truth, it’s post-knowledge

Public intellectuals say that we live in an era of post-truth. As for me, we live in an era of post-knowledge. 

People with access to Google, who can get the formula for aspirin in a second, forget that this does not make them chemists. People around the world are demanding quick and simple solutions. 

Perhaps in more peaceful times, we could afford it. You can treat a runny nose with squats, and at least it will not harm the body. However, if we are already dealing with cancer, the price of such simple solutions and actual therapy delays will be high.

The problem is not only that the space for freedom in authoritarian countries has narrowed to the size of a prison cell. The problem is that even in developed democracies, forces calling into question the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are gaining strength.

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There are reasons for this. The coming generations replaced those ones that survived World War II. They have inherited democracy from their parents. 

They began to take rights and freedoms for granted. They have become consumers of values. They perceive freedom as choosing between cheeses in the supermarket. 

In essence, they are ready to exchange freedom for economic benefits, promises of security or personal comfort.

Yet, the truth is that freedom is very fragile. Human rights are not attained once and forever. We make our own choices every day.

The war has come home a long time ago

In such times of turbulence, responsibility-driven leadership is required. Global challenges cannot be resolved individually or on your own. 

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The efforts of those who worked to build a shared European project were aimed at overcoming the history of wars. But stable growth and peace in the region are impossible while a part of Europe is bleeding. 

People only begin to understand that the war is going on when the bombs are falling on their heads, but the war has dimensions other than the military one: it is an economic war, an information war, a war of values. 

Whether we are brave enough to admit it or not, this war has long since crossed the borders of the European Union.

Because we live in a very interconnected world. And only the advancement of freedom makes this world safer.

Oleksandra Matviichuk is a Ukrainian human rights lawyer and Nobel Peace Prize winner.

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“Everyone that dies feels like a family member that has been killed”

Euronews spoke to Kyiv-resident Maya, who tells us about her life before the full-scale invasion and now, two years after. With three friends she is raising money to buy drones and cars, to support those, who are fighting at the frontline.

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“2021 was the best year of my life,” 30-year-old Kyiv-resident, Maya, told me. Throughout the year, she immersed herself in Kyiv’s vibrant nightlife, becoming an integral part of its emerging cultural scene. Alongside her best friend, Tanya, she worked for one of the city’s most prominent nightclubs, K41, and co-founded a since closed-down music magazine, called TIGHT. After a global pandemic, life seemed to finally go back to normal.

Back then, Ukraine had been at war for eight years already, fighting against Russian separatists in the Donbas, but even after reports from international media organisations and governments, many Ukrainians refused to believe what was about to happen to them. Maya couldn’t imagine it, either; even though she’d also read those reports.

“Looking back at it, everything happening before the invasion seems so obvious. I feel like a fool because I refused to believe it,” she says. Then, for the first time in her life, she woke up to explosions in the early hours of the 24th February. Having never been so panicked in her life, she decided to leave Kyiv. She was forced to leave her hometown and went to the western city of Lviv first before moving to Berlin. She has since realised that leaving was the worst decision of her life. “Being away from my home and not going through this together with my family, which was around ten kilometres away from Russian forces, was the worst time of my life”, she adds.

Euronews spoke to Maya and Tanya, two best friends who have known each other since their early twenties, to better understand how their lives had changed in the last two years. Maya lives in Kyiv after briefly having left, while Tanya fled to the UK and made London her new home.

“In 2021, Kyiv felt like the centre of the universe”

When Maya thinks of her life before the full-scale invasion, she gets emotional and is briefly lost for words. Tanya jumps in and talks about their community in the nightlife scene. “We were a tight-knit community. We worked, partied together and made ambitious plans for the future. Unfortunately, none of them have happened,” she says. Maya adds that back then, Kyiv went through the peak of club tourism. 

“It felt like the last place on earth where people were going crazy every night. In 2021, Kyiv felt like the centre of the universe. I’m grateful we were lucky enough to experience it.” Talking about the past has become something of a norm for Ukrainians. Thinking back about the years before the full-scale invasion leaves a bitter taste. On the one hand, the feeling of gratitude for the joyful experiences, on the other, the feeling of frustration, uncertainty, and fear of what’s to come.

“We will find a way!”

“Now, the mood can be described as frustrated,” Maya said. “People tend to forget we’re defending ourselves in this war”, added Tanya. This sense of hopelessness came up in a conversation Maya had with one of her friends, who is currently serving in the military. He told her that of course they would continue fighting. “We will find a way,” he added.

Like Maya, many Ukrainians are bracing for a long war. Living through frequent air raids, drone attacks and shelling takes a toll not only on one’s physical, but also on one’s mental health.

But how do you take care of your mental health when your country is at war? Just like for any other person, social media plays a big role here. Doom-scrolling and arguments no one can win take a toll on everyone. “I muted everything and everyone who triggered me,” Maya said, adding that controlling the intake of news also played a big role in preserving her mental sanity. Especially, the recent news of Oleksandr Syrskyi replacing General Valerii Zaluzhnyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces stirred up confusion and panic in the country due to his reputation.

“Clubs a space where people can transform their fear, anger, frustration into something positive”

Even with the country at war, Kyiv’s nightlife – or rather daylife? – is thriving. Due to curfew restrictions, bars, restaurants, and clubs must close at midnight, which is why clubs have shifted to daytime events. Maya talks about New Year’s Eve, after Kyiv was heavily shelled again, and how she was supposed to go to an event at the techno club K41 the next day.

Naturally, she didn’t feel like going. She was convinced that heavy shelling would continue and that she would die soon. In the end, she went to the party anyway.

At the club, she met some of her friends, who told her they were feeling the same. “That’s what Russia wants, though,” said one of her friends. They put on their best outfits, went to the club and shared this experience with each other. 

“What we felt, how we were dancing, it really helped us go through this trauma together.” She mentioned the importance of these spaces, where you can support each other in person. “Of course, the vibe was different. It felt like escapism.” This opportunity to escape on the dancefloor is important for civilians, as well as servicemen who are on holiday. “They’re off for one day or two and go clubbing, to escape reality,” she added.

Clubs serve a different function now in Ukraine. “It’s a space where people can transform their fear, anger, frustration into something positive. You can go through this experience of being alive. It’s an existential place for people to come together and enjoy the company of each other,” Tanya explained.

“Every person that dies – whether I know them or not – feels like a family member that has been killed”

Reality catches up quickly, though. Can you get used to war and the violent images and videos posted online? Both Tanya and Maya said “no”. “Every person that dies – whether I know them or not – feels like a family member that has been killed,” said Maya. This sense of community in Ukraine has become even more important in times of war. “We’re used to poverty. We’re used to sharing our homes with many family members. We’ve always had to support each other, even before the war.” That’s why every death hits her as hard as the last one. “You suffer and breathe with every loss as if it is yours, because there is no separation between us as a nation and the individual. We go through this trauma together,” she adds.

That sense of community isn’t only as broad as the country, though. Each industry, subculture, and scene has its own tight-knit community that has grown closer in the last two years. Priorities have shifted, and the aim has become to do everything to retain your freedom as an individual, and a country.

“Everyone is doing their part to defend our country”

It is not just soldiers who are defending the country, but also civilians. Though, many Ukrainians have turned away from their passions and crafts to join the army. “During these two years, our problems and the focus have changed. The focus now for us is the frontline and supporting them as much as we can,” Maya said, adding that Russian forces are deliberately targeting civilians.

For her, civilians are also the people who signed up to the army to help defend their country. “They didn’t choose to fight; they were forced to because we’ve been attacked.” Of course, both Maya and Tanya have lots of friends who are currently fighting to defend the country. These people leave behind a gaping hole in the community, but the aim is to continue fighting.

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“We are fighting the biggest country in the world, we’re in desperate need of resources”

Since the onset of the full-scale war, Ukrainians have been trying to do everything they can to help and collectively donated 1 billion euros through the ‘Bankas’ feature on the Monobank online platform, as the Kyiv Post reports. This digital piggy bank, unique in the world, serves as a secure means for fundraising. Dozens of fundraisers to support the army are regularly posted on Monobank, each with a specific fundraising goal. According to Oleh Gorokhovsky, co-founder of Monobank, ‘bankas’ holds immense significance for Ukrainian volunteers, akin to the importance of HIMARS for Ukrainian soldiers.

Alongside two other friends, Nastya and Vita, Maya and Tanya decided to establish their own fundraising aid organisation, AIDх10, to contribute to the purchase of the crucially needed drones and cars at the frontline. According to the Times, donations have played an integral role in preventing the collapse of the Ukrainian economy thus far. However, with several million Ukrainians having left the country, Maya, Tanya, Nastya and Vita aimed to start an organisation that also involved Ukrainians who were forced to leave the country.

“Ukrainians are tired and strapped for cash. It’s difficult for each Ukrainian to donate now,” said Tanya, adding, “this sense of urgency, coupled with the feeling we’re in this for the long haul, exhausts people, which is why we wanted to make reaching out abroad an integral part of our fundraising strategy, as well as raising awareness. We are fighting the biggest country in the world; we’re in desperate need of resources.”

Both emphasise the aid mentioned in the news falls far short and often fails to reach those in dire need. “We watch our friends struggle on the frontline,” Maya said. The frontline is extremely perilous, with equipment such as drones and vehicles easily breaking down. Both assert that soldiers are in desperate need of these resources, alongside the weapons volunteers cannot afford, such as long-range weapons, mines, to name a few. Maya stressed that everyone must understand that drones are consumables, and the military sometimes uses a dozen drones a day to neutralise their targets. “Nothing can replace the weapons we require, as Zelenskyy mentioned at this year’s Munich Security Conference,” she added.

“We’d love to invest our money into a better, greener future and the environment, but we have to spend this money to defend our country instead,” Maya said. “Drones are so important, but they break so easily.” The reality for her and other Ukrainians is the need to support the thousands of soldiers fighting at the frontline. “We, as civilians, are fighting to gain as many donations to help safe as many lives as we can,” Tanya added.

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“I don’t ever want to leave Ukraine; I want to live here”

“I don’t know what the future will look like, it’s a hard question,” confessed Maya as she voices her fear of the worst-case scenario. “I don’t know what I should do if Kyiv or Ukraine end up occupied by Russia. I know I won’t be kept alive,” she said, stating that she’s a vocal activist connected to the LGBTQIA+ community. The LGBTQIA+ community was labelled as an ‘extremist organisation’ and banned by the Kremlin last year.

“It’s so painful for me to think about, but I am thinking about it quite often.” She wants her life to be in Ukraine without living in fear, to raise her future children there and live in peace. Maya doesn’t spend much time thinking about the end of the war, though. “We’ve lost so many people and sacrificed so much, I don’t think I could celebrate”, she added.

There are no official numbers about how many civilians have died since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. US officials estimate near half a million war casualties. 

There is hardly a Ukrainian who doesn’t know someone who has been killed or died defending their country.

If you want to donate to AIDx10, you can do so here.

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Russia is now pretending it knows nothing of its colonial legacy

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

Russia has always been one of the largest European colonial powers. Yet, its current leaders are engaging in the historical game of geopolitical opportunism that has been a recurring theme in the nation’s grand strategy, Maxim Trudolyubov writes.

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The ongoing Russian aggression against Ukraine in Europe’s eastern fringes, Hamas’ brutal assault on Israel and the ensuing war, and the intermittent clashes between Iran’s proxies and Western forces in the Red Sea beg the question: will these conflicts result in victory, and if so, who will come out on top?

In the West, Ukraine, and even Russia, the anticipation of a victorious outcome is tied to the prevailing understanding of the twentieth century as a master narrative for the future — as a go-to history, which helps to grapple with war and conflict. 

This narrative boils down to defeating one evil in 1945 and another in 1989-1990.

The story of the defeat of evil

In 1945, Germany’s defeat was total. The unconditional victory of the anti-Hitler coalition, which included the United States, the Soviet Union, and China, alongside numerous other countries, followed by initiatives like the Marshall Plan and efforts to prevent new wars, laid the groundwork for the postwar West as well as the postwar Soviet Union.

There was a unanimous agreement on the severity of Nazi crimes, fostering a shared set of values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, allowing people from diverse cultures to find common ground. It paved the way for the creation of the State of Israel — a protected home for the victims of Nazism.

Four decades later, a world divided by the Cold War found unity again. The fall of the Berlin Wall accompanied by a wave of velvet revolutions that witnessed the collapse of communist regimes in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and other Eastern Bloc nations, marked the triumph of the West. 

Many former communist bloc countries joined the European Union. This time Russia was on the losing side, although it did, for a time, become a partner in the restored victorious coalition.

Yet, this historical consciousness often overlooks events that were pivotal for many non-Western countries and cultures. 

The former colonies experienced their unique twentieth century, complete with its own set of heroes and villains. 

In parallel to the Western narrative, the non-Western twentieth century was characterised by the emergence of national consciousness, the struggle for independence from Western colonial powers, and the establishment of their own political systems.

In its essence, it’s a story only tangentially related to, and much less black-and-white than the much-revered Nazi defeat or the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Non-Western national resurgence

While for many in the West, the postwar decades were a time of recovery, growth, and eventual victory over communism, for many in Asia and Africa it was an era of battles for independence, civil wars, and political strife. 

Moreover, those who were on the “right side of history” in the Western twentieth century were often on the “wrong side” in twentieth-century Asia and Africa.

The British, who were part of the winning coalition of 1945 in leading roles, crushed the rebellion of the Malayan National Liberation Army, a guerrilla force, shortly after the war. In the 1950s, the British brutally dealt with the Mau-Mau uprising in Kenya.

Britain’s hasty partition of India in 1947 resulted in significant displacement of people and mass violence. 

From 1946 to 1954, France attempted to maintain control over its colonies in the Indochina peninsula through military means, leading eventually to the Vietnam War that lasted until 1975. The Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) also witnessed violence and repression by French troops. 

In the late 1940s Indonesian Revolution, Dutch colonial forces engaged in violent clashes with Indonesian nationalists before acknowledging the establishment of an independent Indonesia.

Although China was not technically a colony, its society felt a sense of humiliation due to the concessions it was forced to make in trade and territory to both the UK and Russia. 

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As an example, the Convention of Peking in 1860 compelled China to give up portions of what is now known as the Far East to Russia, specifically the territories of modern Primorsky Krai and southern Khabarovsk Krai.

In short, Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern and various other societies had their unique series of defeats and triumphs, distinctly different from those of Western nations. 

In fact, these experiences often involved confrontations with or victories over Western powers. 

At those moments in history, the Soviet Union often nominally played on the side of what is now called the Global South as part of its greater Cold War strategy. Yet, a collision of these divergent historical experiences and consciousnesses was bound to occur at some point.

Divergent views of history

It did happen, once and again, over the conflicts and wars in the Middle East. 

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The creation of the State of Israel was the product of a broad international consensus that emerged at a time when the anti-Hitler coalition had not yet disintegrated: both the United States and the Soviet Union voted in favour of establishing the new country.

Western politicians probably also sought to rehabilitate themselves from the fact that their countries had been reluctant in the pre-war and war years to accept Jews fleeing the deadly threat. 

In this context, the emergence of Israel was one of the most important positive events of the Western twentieth century. The efforts of many generations of Jews, a people that had not had their own sovereign state for almost 2,000 years, were crowned with success.

But in the non-Western world, this event appeared in a different light. The creators of the Western twentieth century — the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union — had long been involved in Middle Eastern politics. 

From the perspective of the peoples of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and many others, the policies of the Western powers were pursued in the region primarily for Western — or Soviet — interests.

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The collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I was followed by an arbitrary, from this perspective, redistribution of borders and resources in the region. 

The establishment of Israel after World War II and the drawing of the borders of the new country was seen by the inhabitants of the region in this light — as a colonial redrawing of their territories by some outsiders.

In all of that, Russia was hardly the liberator or the supporter of those wronged or oppressed. On the contrary, it sat squarely in the West’s corner.

Could Moscow’s arbitrary game pay off?

The inescapable fact is that Russia stood as one of the largest European colonial powers, especially from the non-Western perspective. This holds true even today. 

Yet, Russia’s current leaders are engaging in the historical game of geopolitical opportunism that has been a recurring theme in the nation’s grand strategy. 

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Following in the footsteps of Stalin, who initially supported the creation of Israel in 1948 but later assumed a quasi-colonial role as a patron of Egypt, Syria, and other Arab nations, Vladimir Putin’s administration presents Moscow as both anti-Western and anti-colonial. 

And, even more cynically, while aligning with China and Iran — nations characterised by their governments’ distinct anti-Western and anti-colonial sentiments — the Kremlin is waging a colonial war of aggression against Ukraine.

While Moscow’s roots lie in Western colonial power, it skillfully projects a contrasting image to appeal to non-Western nations, successfully garnering “positive press” in the Middle East and beyond.

In the Western world, the concept of victory is deeply ingrained in the narrative of a triumphant twentieth century — a worldview in which evil is punished and its victims are rewarded. 

For Russia, a former totalitarian power, there is no such concept, because it was both a winner and a loser within the West’s historical narrative. 

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In the contemporary landscape, there is no compelling reason to expect a definitive victory that neatly assigns everything and everyone to predefined roles. 

The post-war world’s contours remain elusive and undefined. And Moscow wants to capitalise on that as we speak.

Maxim Trudolyubov is a Senior Fellow at the Kennan Institute and the Editor-at-Large of Meduza. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna (IWM).

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Navalny is the latest martyr of Russian totalitarianism

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

The choice which now has to be made is not whether to appease the Kremlin or go into an open conflict with it. The choice now is either to stop Russia in Ukraine or be forced to fight a resurgent Moscow in defence of Eastern Europe as a whole, Aleksandar Đokić writes.

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As much as the news of Alexei Navalny’s sudden death on Friday came as an intense shock, it’s hard to escape the blood-curdling shadow of its inevitability. 

It’s as if all democratically inclined Russians, and those who study the Russian society, knew all along that Navalny would be taken out of the picture by Vladimir Putin at some point, but at the same time hoped that it, by some miracle, not come to pass. 

The death of Navalny is not and cannot be treated as an accident. Since no factual and fair investigation can be conducted in the totalitarian Russia of today, the causes of his death will remain a mystery. 

There is no point in believing that even his remains will survive for long after they are laid to rest as they carry important evidence. 

What is true, however, is that, in August 2020, before his imprisonment, Navalny was poisoned by a neurotoxin which left permanent detrimental consequences on his health; he was kept in solitary confinement for most of his prison term, and he complained about the lack of proper medical care. 

Given the facts, his death was premeditated and orchestrated by the Russian machine of repression, even if he was not directly poisoned for the second time (which can still very well be the real cause of his death after all).

A pattern of propaganda reveals a sinister farce

The handling of Navalny’s sudden death by the Russian state propaganda follows the same pattern as in the case of his poisoning. 

There are always two versions of events that transpired — one, it was an accident, and two, it was the work of the “Anglo-Saxon” security services. 

The accidental death is the official version, the narrative which comes from the Russian penitentiary authorities. In the case of Navalny’s poisoning, the official version was that he had a medical condition and was not poisoned at all, which independent medical analysis in Germany later refuted. 

The unofficial version stems from the Russian state media propagandists and state-operated blogs. 

Their narratives coalesce and by the rule of thumb all claim that Russia had no motive to eliminate Navalny so it must have been the “perfidious Anglo-Saxons” who stand to benefit the most. 

Once one analyzes Russian narratives for years, these patterns become obvious and impossible to miss. They can only instill doubt in those outside of Russia who think about Putin’s totalitarian prison camp only in passing.

Make no mistake: The siloviki are in charge in Moscow

The final elimination of Navalny, when he was already exiled to a maximum security prison in the Arctic Circle, sends a clear message that the Kremlin has stopped pretending that it cares one bit whether it’s seen as a civilised country ruled by law or a thuggish concentration camp with neon-lit commercials. 

The great pretence, which lasted in Russia for almost two decades, was founded upon the balance of two wings of its elite — the hawkish siloviki, agents of the security services and high-ranking military officers, and the capable technocrats, disinterested in empire-building as well as in democracy, and concerned only with the continuous functioning of the political and economic system. 

By engaging in a large-scale war he could not quickly win — or win at all — Putin has transferred all the real power to the military-security wing. 

The people like former FSB director Nikolai Patrushev now effectively govern Russia. They have taken over the political sphere, they have captured even the sphere of culture, where blacklists of undesirable actors, directors or performers have already been made and have left, for the time being, only the area of the economy in the hands of the technocrats. 

The siloviki want the West to know that they mean to go all the way, hence the nuclear threats in space, combined by the elimination of Navalny, all taking place during the Munich Security Conference. 

The thugs who now rule Russia are feeling quite confident; they are emboldened by the polling from the United States, which gives Donald Trump a slight advantage over President Joe Biden, and by the fact that much-needed military aid to Ukraine, currently awaiting the approval of the US House of Representatives, has been postponed on the urging of Trump and his allies in the Republican Party. 

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The siloviki believe that victory is within their grasp. Eliminating Navalny is a clear sign of their confidence.

Between a rock and a hard place, the choice has to be made anyway

In the death of Navalny, however, Russia has gained yet another symbol of democratic martyrdom, as much as it lacks democratic opposition leaders. 

Better yet, it lacks an organised and unified liberal opposition. The million-ruble question is: who is next? Who will step up as the leader of the anti-totalitarian movement in Russia? 

The answer right now might as well be no one — at least in the few years of totalitarianism that are still ahead for Russia. Only the tawing process of transition from totalitarianism and back to authoritarianism can provide enough liberties for the opposition to once again start to form. 

That transition — as undemocratic as it will inevitably be — will most likely come from the top, and in order for that to be induced, Putin and the siloviki, who hold all the power in Russia, must hit a wall in Ukraine. 

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This has to be a wall made not only of Ukrainian bravery and sacrifice, but of Western resolve to contain Moscow’s aggression before it engulfs more of Europe, and, eventually, most of the continent. 

The choice which now has to be made, first and foremost by the White House and Brussels, is not whether to appease the Kremlin or go into an open conflict with it.

The choice is either to stop Russia in Ukraine or be forced to fight a resurgent Moscow in defence of Eastern Europe as a whole.

Aleksandar Đokić is a Serbian political scientist and analyst with bylines in Novaya Gazeta. Formerly, he was a lecturer at RUDN University in Moscow.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Why are European armies struggling to recruit soldiers?

European countries’ efforts to strengthen their armies in the face of the increased threat from Russia have clashed against young Europeans’ unwillingness to join the armed forces.

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed European countries to increase their military spending and strengthen their defence, as they scramble to reverse the shrinking of their armies that has occurred over the past decade or so.

But their efforts have met a huge challenge: a lack of recruits willing to join their military forces.

Despite new investment and a recent recruitment push, Germany recently announced that its troop numbers fell slightly last year. The country’s defence ministry said earlier this month that its army – the Bundeswehr – shrank by about 1,500 troops in 2023, for a total of around 181,500 men and women by the end of the year. The Bundeswehr’s plan is to increase its ranks to 203,000 troops by 2031.

The UK also recently admitted it’s struggling to find recruits, with the country’s Ministry of Defence saying that 5,800 more people left the forces than joined them in 2023. The UK Defence Journal writes that the army has not met its recruitment targets every year since 2010.

“The problem is one that all European countries share – including France, Italy, Spain,” Vincenzo Bove, professor of political science at Warwick University in UK, told Euronews. “I don’t think there’s one country that’s spared from it.”

According to Bove, it’s unclear when exactly attracting recruits became a problem for European armies. “From my understanding, it started at least over 10 years ago in countries like the UK,” Bove said. “In the US, it started at least 20 years ago.”

What’s certain is that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has added pressure on European countries to solve the issue. But why are European countries struggling to recruit soldiers?

1. Young people’s values have changed

According to Bove, the ideological distance between society at large and military forces has gotten wider in recent years.

“If you take a random sample of young Europeans, they are ideologically very far from a sample of soldiers from the same country in terms of how they see society, their aspirations, what they want to do,” Bove said. “And this distance is growing over time.”

Bove mentioned that recent surveys have shown that young civilians are overwhelmingly against wars, against increasing spending on the military and against military operations abroad; they are also more individualistic and less patriotic than those serving in the military forces.

While there’s no clear explanation for why this gap is getting wider, Bove said this might be related to the end of conscription and the fact that young people are no longer exposed to the military, with most of them not even knowing someone working in the armed forces.

Dr Sophy Antrobus, Research Fellow at the Freeman Air and Space Institute at King’s College London, agreed with Bove, telling Euronews that the smaller the forces get, the less civilians actually see them. “In most parts of the country [the UK], you hardly see any people in uniform, there’s not that awareness of the military as an available career.”

2. Unappealing salary

Another reason is that working in the military has become a job like any other, Bove said, and the armed forces are competing with the private sector to get recruits – but they’re at a disadvantage.

“Because of the challenges in the military sector, the quality of life, relocations, international assignments, uncertainty and the possibility of dying, you need to pay very high salaries to convince people to apply and join the armed forces,” Bove said. “Given that they don’t, young Europeans would rather accept a job in the civilian sector.”

Talking about the UK specifically, Antrobus – who served in the Royal Air Forces for 20 years, including in Iraq and Afghanistan – added that there isn’t been much investment in the army, and the state of accommodation for the armed forces “is pretty bad,” she said. 

“Application times for getting in the armed forces are also quite long too, and the younger generations – particularly now – expect things to happen quickly. If there’s a job that comes out in the public sector in the meantime, that’s a more attractive option than waiting around for the army to give you an option,” she said.

3. The demographic decline

European armed forces are also struggling to find potential applicants as the population of the continent is ageing and shrinking. 

Bove argues that the size of the armed forces has already decreased to adapt to this change, with the British, Italian and French armies, for example, now being “pretty much half the size it used to be 10 years or 20 years ago.” 

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What a smaller pool of applicants might mean for European armies now is that the quality of recruits accepted might not be up to the same strict standards armed forces have imposed for decades – which could in turn allow for dodgy individuals like neo-Nazi sympathisers to slip in.

According to Antrobus, there’s also a problem of “health and fitness” with young people. In the US, she said, there are more people in the age group between 17 and 24 who are largely unfit, with obesity being a big issue. If this trend continues, the armies will have nobody to recruit by 2035-2040.”

What future for the European armies?

European armies are a bit in “panic mode,” Bove said, as they scramble to find new recruits in the face of the increased threat from Moscow.

 “Immigration could be the answer,” Bove said, citing that countries like Spain, France and Portugal are already considering ways for immigrants to join the army and get citizenship after a few years in the forces.

“That’s probably the best way forward,” Bove said. “Because you can’t force people to fight for you and join the armed forces, and people are not going accept a return of conscription.” 

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“It’s an intractable problem, to be honest,” Antrobus said. “It all starts with the politics, the political will and interest.” A solution to European armies’ recruitment process, Antrobus said, would involve things like “making the services more attractive, pay a bit better, certainly improving living standards – and it’s just not high enough in the political agenda compared to the cost of living and the economy.”

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Will Zelenskyy’s four-star general become his main political opponent?

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

The Zelenskyy-Zaluzhnyi beef is a reminder that the essence of politics lies in disagreement or divergence of group interests — especially when those interests involve the survival of the nation and its people, Aleksandar Đokić writes.

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As the war in Ukraine nears the two-year mark, global attention has radically shifted away from Russia’s ongoing act of aggression. Battlefield reports have become scarce, and the continued humanitarian crisis affecting tens of millions of Ukrainians barely makes the news any more.

Yet, the most recent bombshell out of Kyiv alleging a behind-the-scenes dispute between President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and army commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi brought Ukraine to the headlines of the media around the world once more. 

Rumours of Zaluzhnyi’s imminent dismissal as a consequence of an ever-widening rift between two key figures in wartime Ukraine of today are said to be tied to the fact that Zaluzhnyi — seen by many as a level-headed realist — has become increasingly more popular among Ukrainians than Zelenskyy himself.

While the Ukrainian president dismissed this as “not true”, fears over Zaluzhnyi’s rise in popularity in domestic politics would serve to prove that, while a nation’s unity in times of war might be strong, concord in politics tends to be very short-lived.

And if anything, the Zelenskyy-Zaluzhnyi beef is a reminder that the essence of politics lies in disagreement or divergence of group interests — especially when those interests involve the survival of the nation and its people.

What unites a country?

In fact, history has shown that the unity of the people and various political options is an unnatural state in the realm of politics. 

This coming together of an entire society is usually either a product of tyranny from within — where unity represents merely a false image of itself, as in the case of Vladimir Putin’s Russia — or forced from the outside by aggressive foreign powers threatening the sole existence of a nation. 

Going a mere decade back, Ukrainian society was, like any other, divided between conflicting interests of various groups, represented by political parties, with a meddling oligarchic element to boot. 

However, Ukrainians already had a unifying incentive, that many societies luckily don’t have — an increasingly aggressive and revanchist great power at its doorstep, attempting to capture Ukraine’s territory and reconfigure its national identity. 

The Ukrainian political class didn’t only face the cumbersome task of building democratic institutions and curbing oligarchic influence over the political sphere. It also had to do so while dealing with the military aggression of its now resurgent former imperial master. 

Enter Zelenskyy

Fast forward to the last presidential electoral cycle in Ukraine in 2019: the current president of the country, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, achieved a unifying effect never seen before in contemporary Ukrainian politics. 

In the runoff, he got both the west and the east of the country to support him, while replacing a string of oligarchs who preceded him, including Petro Poroshenko and Viktor Yanukovich.

Russia’s total war against Ukraine in 2022 changed the political landscape of both countries. 

Moscow slid into totalitarianism, while in Ukraine, the vast majority of the nation rallied around President Zelenskyy, a political figure only a few considered to be as resilient as he turned out to be. 

Zelenskyy, a man of charisma and a politician who understood how to appropriately communicate with a wide audience, helped the Ukrainian people beat back the main onslaught of Russian troops. 

Western aid, in terms of armaments and finances, came later. It was Zelenskyy’s voice, his presence, that instilled hope in the hearts of Ukrainians around the world. 

Even those who mocked him and thought he was incapable of holding the highest political office, came to respect his actions when they were needed the most, and Zelenskyy went on to become a globally recognised leader of a nation embroiled in a David vs Goliath-esque contest.

The nature of politics inevitably rears its head

However, after nearly two years of bloody war, the frontlines barely moving, and new wars and crises arising elsewhere, Ukraine lost its leading place in the world news reports. Zelenskyy’s aplomb just wasn’t enough any more. 

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Internally, the nature of politics began to show itself. By mid-2023, it was already clear that Zelenskyy would be facing renewed opposition. 

His controversial former advisor Oleksiy Arestovych immediately presented himself as a promising potential leader of the “stalemate” or “sober” party — claiming to be the actual realist in the room. 

He alone, nonetheless, didn’t stand much chance against Zelenskyy, having switched too many political camps in his career, and it became evident that not many of those who were a part of the pre-war opposition would back him. 

With Zelenskyy at the helm of the determined resistance strain of Ukrainian politics, then who could be the face of the stalemate party, without him or her being labelled a defeatist or, even worse, Putin’s agent? 

The answer to that question was clear to the opposition veterans from the start — four-star general Valerii Zaluzhnyi definitely fits the bill. 

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Will the four-star general stand and be counted?

The general, already a war hero, is surely a strong-willed and determined individual, marked by the makings of a Macarthurian type of character. And more importantly, he has the overwhelming trust of the Ukrainian people on his side.

A December 2023 poll by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology showed that 88% of Ukrainians supported Zaluzhnyi, while Zelenskyy’s approval rating hovered at around 62%.

The same poll demonstrated that while the absolute majority of Ukrainians also do not favour the option of peace in lieu of giving up a part of their country’s territory — 74% are against it — a growing number of people now see the stalemate as a possibility, with 19% ready to accept it (up from 14% in October and 10% in May).

Zaluzhnyi’s words in a now-infamous interview in November 2023, where he expressed his reservation that Ukraine might be stuck in a long and costly war, have stung the ever-persistent Zelenskyy just as much as they have made the possible pact with the devil seem slightly more acceptable than the continued devastation of Ukraine.

At the same time, his outspoken and direct takes also piqued the interest of the nearly-inert Ukrainian opposition, already significantly weakened after the 2019 elections and following February 2022, when it lost almost all of its appeal. 

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Yet, the passage of time and lack of progress on the battlefield has made them once again engage in a political match against Zelenskyy, as can be gleaned from those from the Verkhovna Rada issuing accusatory statements aimed at him while supporting Zaluzhnyi to the Western press these days. 

All they need now is a respectable leader to stand and be counted.

Aleksandar Đokić is a Serbian political scientist and analyst with bylines in Novaya Gazeta. He was formerly a lecturer at RUDN University in Moscow.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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Disability rights in Ukraine are a litmus test for democracy

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

When Ukraine emerges from conflict, the country has the promise to rebuild itself as a model for a free, fair, and inclusive society. Ensuring that the rights of people with disabilities are respected will be a major test of how well it succeeds, Virginia Atkinson and Yuliia Sachuk write.

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Air raid sirens blare across Ukraine every day. The sound signals what has become a part of Ukrainians’ daily routine: run down the steps to the basement, shelter in place, and, as millions have, trek miles to shelter or to flee.

But for those with disabilities who can’t hear those signals, who can’t access bomb shelters, who can’t make it across the border or to a shelter — they continue to be left behind.

One woman’s family — all of whom are blind — never knew where the entrance to their apartment building’s basement was. 

When the building owner told residents to shelter there, they were dismissed when they asked for directions. 

This is just one scenario where people with disabilities could not access a shelter. In 2023, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry found that nearly 900 over 4,800 shelters were locked or in a state of disrepair; a majority of the remaining shelters are inaccessible to people with disabilities.

This past week, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promoted a Ukrainian peace plan, urging his allies to remain committed to Ukraine “to build, to reconstruct, to restore our lives.” 

As towns in Ukraine rebuild at this very moment, it is important to recognise that for people with disabilities, a one-size-fits-all playbook to survive and recover from the war does not exist. 

When Ukraine emerges victorious, to thrive as an inclusive democracy, it must prioritise those being left behind right now.

Russia’s full-scale invasion made matters dire

Making the country work for its increased population of people with disabilities must not wait for the end of hostilities.

Around 2.7 million Ukrainians have disabilities, estimated by the State Statistics Service, though due to stigma and discrimination against self-identifying, this number is under-reported; a 2020 survey by Ukrainian disability rights NGO Fight for Right and the Kyiv International Institution of Sociology found that 16.8% of Ukrainians have a disability, a number that is rising daily during the conflict. 

Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine began to reform its social services to promote independence and a more rights-based approach to disability. 

In 2021, the government adopted the Strategy for Barrier-Free Society, focusing on “empowering persons with disabilities to fully participate in society and ensure they can enjoy their fundamental rights.”

But when Russia went on a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, those efforts came to a screeching halt. 

Information disseminated to the public included crucial information, like curfews, where to seek shelter, and guidance on martial law. 

Oleksandr, a man with a visual disability, couldn’t find out where to buy bread during the first months of the invasion, with information largely being inaccessible due to a lack of resources in sign language, large fonts, or audio or visual formats.

As people evacuated, some left behind loved ones who were older or had a disability. According to an Amnesty International report, 4,000 older Ukrainians with disabilities have been forced into state institutions. 

As the Washington Post writes in a sobering report about internally displaced Ukrainians with disabilities, many of these institutions are in remote areas and violate international standards on access to independent decision-making for people with disabilities.

Children with disabilities are falling behind in their school lessons, with little to no support provided to families of children with disabilities.

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Even getting to the border is not a guarantee of being allowed to cross. According to Fight for Right’s estimates, thousands of men with disabilities have been refused passage across the border. 

The provisions of conscription state that persons with disabilities are not subject to conscription, but border guards are not sensitised to disability and often send men with disabilities away without any information on what documentation they need to cross.

International actors’ help needed

The challenges facing people with disabilities during the war point to the challenges that Ukraine will reckon with during reconstruction. 

The number of people with disabilities has already skyrocketed throughout the war, many of whom are wounded soldiers. As a recent AP report outlines, wounded veterans need to be given resources to independently navigate the world.

For many soldiers, children, and adults — wounded and non-wounded alike — the trauma of seeing these atrocities will undoubtedly impact their mental and emotional health for the rest of their lives.

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For Ukraine to thrive as an inclusive democracy, international actors need to prioritise identifying solutions to these issues. 

The upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin provides an opportunity to focus attention on ensuring people with disabilities are meaningfully involved in Ukraine’s recovery and reform.

Buildings should be rebuilt in an accessible manner, institutions should be abandoned in favour of strategies for people with disabilities to live independently in the community, new laws and policies developed as part of the EU accession process should align with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the elections held when martial law is lifted should be accessible to voters with disabilities.

Many of the accommodations that can be applied are ones that we already use in our everyday lives, whether it be voice-to-text software on our phones or ramps that make buildings more accessible to people with physical disabilities or for parents with young children.

Democracy is at stake

We at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and Fight for Right are committed to doing our part. 

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Ahead of the 2020 local elections in Ukraine, the IFES team supported the Central Election Commission and organisations of persons with disabilities to design a QR code that allowed people with a smartphone to consume written content in Ukrainian sign language and audio format. 

This voter education dissemination method was recognised with an Innovative Practice Award from the Zero Project at the UN in Vienna. The same can be done for any other piece of what could be life-saving information. 

As Ukraine returns to ordinary democratic life, we will continue to work with Ukrainian partners to ensure that these standards are reflected in elections and that all Ukrainians have access to participate in the political process.

The global community has recognised, since the start of the full-scale invasion, that what is at stake is democracy. 

When Ukraine emerges from conflict, the country has the promise to rebuild itself as a model for a free, fair, and inclusive society. 

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Ensuring that the rights of people with disabilities are respected will be a litmus test of how well it succeeds.

Virginia Atkinson serves as Global Inclusion Adviser at the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, and Yuliia Sachuk is Head of the Ukrainian Fight for Right NGO.

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As Europeans prepare for 2024 elections, Ukraine watches on

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent in any way the editorial position of Euronews.

This year’s election campaigns have shaken the status quo, and European voters will be anxious to see what transpires during the 2024 election season. The stakes could not be higher, Mark Temnycky writes.

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When Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022, many were sceptical of Ukraine’s success. “Ukraine probably cannot hold off Russia forever,” read one headline. “If Kharkiv falls, Ukraine falls,” stated another headline. “Kyiv could fall to Russia within days,” said a third.

Given these assumptions, Western countries hesitated to provide Ukraine with defence assistance. 

They were fearful that, if Ukraine failed, Western weapons would fall into the hands of the Russians, similar to what occurred during the withdrawal of Afghanistan in 2021. 

Meanwhile, leaked documents from the Russian Federation showed that the Kremlin believed it could take the Ukrainian capital Kyiv in a few days, and the entire country within a month. In short, the situation looked grim.

Nearly two years later, Ukrainians have proved their doubters wrong. To date, Ukrainians have successfully defended their capital, and they forced Russian soldiers out of the centre of the country. 

Ukraine also reclaimed more than half of the territory occupied by Russia, making “steady gains in a set-piece battle against a heavily entrenched force” of fortified Russian soldiers in the south and east. While Russian troops still occupy one-fifth of Ukrainian territory, Ukraine’s success on the battlefield should not be minimised.

Russia’s war in Ukraine is not an action movie

Observers of Russia’s war in Ukraine should also be reminded that Ukrainian advancements are not a movie or a video game. 

Despite a desire for instant success, the war will not be won quickly. Time and precision are required to ensure victory, and it’s worth remembering that thousands of men and women have already died protecting their country.

Despite these successes, the same critics who initially said that Ukraine would fall within a matter of days are now saying that the war is taking too long. 

They argue that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed because Ukrainians did not liberate their entire country over the past two years, including Crimea and the Donbas. 

Some critics also still believe that Ukraine has “no chance” of defeating the Russian forces in the south and east. 

In these circles, the consensus is that Ukraine should be forced into peace talks with Russia, and that Ukraine should no longer be assisted in its defence efforts. 

Most alarmingly, this argument seems to be spreading like wildfire.

Delayed assistance and blaming the war on others

Some warning signs are already here in Europe. For example, over the past two years, Hungary has continuously blocked military aid and humanitarian packages from the European Union to Ukraine. 

Budapest has pushed the EU to cut back on its aid spending to Ukraine. Most recently, Hungarian officials stated that they will continue to block aid to the Eastern European state as Hungary requires “further reassurances [from Ukraine] before it would change its approach to Ukraine in any international settings.” 

These attempts to stop future EU assistance packages to Kyiv include trying to halt Ukraine’s potential accession discussions with the EU and NATO. 

These continuous roadblocks have delayed EU assistance from arriving in Ukraine. Without the necessary tools to succeed on the battlefield, it has impacted Ukraine’s timeline to force the Russians out as quickly as possible.

Hungary is not alone in these antics. Earlier this year, Slovakia held its parliamentary elections, where a populist party, Smer, won. 

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Smer, which is headed by a pro-Russian politician, Robert Fico, has now declared that it will stop sending defence aid to Ukraine. The party also “rejects NATO’s military support for Ukraine”. The party has previously blamed the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on American manufacturing companies, stating that they support warmongering. 

Like the Hungarian officials from Victor Orbán’s party, Fidesz, Fico and his Slovakian group believe that too much aid has been sent to Ukraine.

Populists and the far-right are gaining ground

Finally, like Slovakia, the Dutch also had an election that ended with alarming results. In November, the Netherlands held a general election. In a surprising turn of events, Geert Wilders and his far-right group the Party for Freedom won. 

The party holds anti-EU and anti-Ukraine sentiments. It has also pledged to stop sending aid to Kyiv, although it remains to be seen if they will follow this plan.

The developments in Hungary, Slovakia, and now the Netherlands are no accident. 

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Simultaneously, similar movements are also spreading in countries with larger economies, such as France, Italy, and Spain, suggesting a pattern is growing throughout Europe. 

According to a Pew Research Center study, populist groups and far-right movements are indeed gaining ground, winning “winning larger shares of the vote in recent legislative elections” across the continent. Why is this the case?

Heads will turn

Nationalist and anti-establishment rhetoric, as well as opposition to the war in Ukraine, is growing throughout Europe. Millions of citizens across the continent are concerned about the economy. 

Others are discontent with their current leaders of government, and these voters are demanding new and stronger leadership. Some have even opted to improve their relationships with Moscow, believing that sanctions on Russia brought nothing but hardship.

It is important to note, however, that there are some outliers in this trend. For example, French President Emmanuel Macron successfully defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen during the presidential election last year. 

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Meanwhile, the opposition movement in Poland successfully defeated populist groups during the October general election. This suggests that, while the far-right is gaining ground, it can still be defeated.

Now, heads will turn to the various elections across Europe in 2024. Throughout the year, Finland, Slovakia, Lithuania, Iceland, and Moldova will hold their presidential elections. 

Additionally, Portugal, Belgium, Croatia, Austria, Georgia, Romania, and the United Kingdom will have parliamentary elections. 

Finally, the European Parliament will hold its elections in June. Based on the current political trends, some experts predict that far-right groups are set to perform well in most of these, while polls suggest right-wing and Eurosceptic parties might surge.

A different European landscape ahead?

If these far-right movements win in their respective elections, this would result in a very different European landscape. 

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The leaders and politicians of these political parties would look to turn inward, where they would hope to adopt isolationist policies in opposition to the EU. 

Furthermore, like Slovakia and the Netherlands, they would seek to reduce or halt aid to Ukraine. 

In addition, a number of European far-right actors have called for the warming of relations with Russia, meaning that they would disregard the fact that Moscow started the war as they favour peace on the European continent instead of justice. 

Such policies would be dangerous for the European continent. Pursuing options to enhance relations with the Kremlin would signal that Europeans are ready to forgive Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, forgetting the atrocities Russian troops committed. 

It would also set a dangerous precedent, signalling to Russia that it could willfully invade and annex the territory of neighbouring states without severe consequences. 

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This would only encourage other autocratic rulers across the world to act in similar ways and lead to additional conflicts and more bloodshed across the globe.

It feels like all-or-nothing

Fortunately, it is not all doom and gloom. According to a recent survey conducted by the European Parliament, 72% of participants believed that their homelands had “benefited from EU membership”. In addition, 70% of EU citizens think that “EU actions have an impact on their daily life”. 

These figures do not suggest that most Europeans have anti-European sentiments. Instead, it indicates that they support the European collective.

Meanwhile, a recent Chatham House study also suggests that a majority of Europeans favour “policies that support the Ukrainian cause, while not supporting policies that would hinder the Ukrainian war effort,” and remain committed to taking a tough stance on Russia.

Overall, times may be changing. European citizens are increasingly becoming frustrated with their leaders and the economy, and they are hoping for changes in the new year. 

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This is allowing far-right groups to succeed. And as they are gaining ground across the continent, anti-European and anti-Ukraine sentiments are growing.

This year’s election campaigns have shaken the status quo, and European voters will be anxious to see what transpires during the 2024 election season. The stakes could not be higher.

Mark Temnycky is a freelance journalist covering Eurasian affairs and a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

At Euronews, we believe all views matter. Contact us at [email protected] to send pitches or submissions and be part of the conversation.

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