A NOTE: Our Russia-Ukraine Resources are updated weekly - if you're accessing the page three or more weeks past the below date, pieces mentioned in this post may have been removed to make room for up-to-date resources.
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Updated Resources - February 28, 2024
Ukrainian Community Mass Rally in commemoration of the 2nd Anniversary of Russia's Full-Scale War Against Ukraine at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on the National Mall in Washington DC on Saturday afternoon, 24 February 2024. ("IMG_0350a" by Elvert Barnes is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0)
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
Kyiv Independent: Newsfeed
Novaya Gazeta Europe: Newsfeed
The Insider: Newsfeed
The Telegraph via Apple Podcasts - Ukraine: The Latest
Several thousand people gathered at Sergels Square in Stockholm to show their support for Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion. 24 February 2024. (Frankie Fouganthin, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons)
WHAT'S ON OUR MIND
In addition to our weekly resource update, today we also offer an updated collection of pieces on the Israeli-Hamas war.
This anniversary looks a bit different from the first. In the intervening year - and within the 24-hour news cycle - the Ukraine war diminished in the consciousness of many as days grew to weeks and weeks to months. And yet the plight of Ukrainians and the global security ramifications remain as urgent as ever. With last Saturday’s somber milestone came renewed global attention. In today’s resource update, we offer a comprehensive view of the war after two years, including perspectives on its current and future state, its impact on individuals and society in Ukraine and Russia, and a spectrum of outlooks on its resolution.
First, we look to the war’s broader state. Responsible Statecraft offers a data-driven snapshot of international statistics on the conflict’s monetary, resource, and human cost. Wilson Center examines the intersection between the conflict and the EU, including queries on the union's enlargement, NATO, and nations’ ability to step up as security actors. For the visually inclined, The Washington Post furnishes five maps exhibiting battlefield activity over time, and The Conversation reveals the war’s destruction using open-source and freely accessible radar data. Through a compendium of perspectives from global foreign policy experts, Foreign Policy offers a forecast on the war. For the auditorily inclined, a podcast from the Council on Foreign Relations discusses where the war is headed in its third year.
In Ukraine, Wilson Center contemplates both the two-year anniversary of the invasion and the ten-year anniversary of the Maidan massacre and annexation of Crimea, depicting this period as a single historical process. The Conversation summarizes the last two years’ bearing on Ukrainian lives, infrastructure, and culture. In The Kyiv Independent and Al Jazeera, the wartime experiences of Ukrainian teens and young adults traverse the gauntlet of coming of age amidst cross-border conflict. The latter publication also reveals the growing war fatigue within Ukraine’s technology sector, a vital segment of the nation’s labor market. Moving from ‘people’ to ‘place,’ the Ukrainian towns that bore the brunt of combat are memorialized in The Kyiv Independent. The Conversation outlines the stunning cultural destruction - above and below ground - wrought by the fighting.
In Russia, the Atlantic Council tallies the war’s toll by the numbers, including figures that reflect anti-war resistance, economic impact, designated foreign agents and undesirable organizations, and labor markets. The economic quagmire presented by the invasion is further examined in The Conversation. Near the border, The Moscow Times examines the balancing act between normalcy and wartime in the Russian city of Voronezh. In a different piece, the publication examines societal divisions in spite of the Kremlin’s calls for unity. Meduza discloses the challenges that the families of Russian soldiers who’ve gone missing in Ukraine confront and the pressure that they face from military leadership to ‘move on’.
We conclude with several perspectives on ending the war. The Nation seeks insight from the past, unpacking the unsuccessful Russian-Ukrainian peace talks that took place between February and March 2022. Experts from 13 of the leading global foreign policy institutes contribute perspectives that call for additional international aid for Ukraine, explore diplomatic pathways to a ceasefire, and offer approaches to rethinking current mindsets in a global memo from the Council of Councils. Opportunities for diplomacy are expounded upon in a report from the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, while Al Jazeera outlines some of the barriers to this approach.
In the Overview, Ukraine’s approach to demographic recovery, the significance of Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square), and a timeline of the Ukrainian struggle for independence between 1991 and 2024. Find also a report on the need for a geopolitical paradigm shift that accounts for the increasing independence of middle and smaller powers. In videos, the Council on Foreign Relations virtual media briefing on the two-year anniversary of the Ukraine War, a CSIS special event on the anniversary, and a documentary short film about Ukrainian refugees from The Nation. In the arts, the Ukrainian arts scene before and after the invasion, remembering a photographer who portrayed Russian identity and patriotism separate from that of authorities, and a photo project offers an intimate portrait of loss through the eyes of Ukrainian soldiers’ wives.
Find this anniversary collection - and more - on today’s resource page. Catch up on last week's special edition on the death of Navalny, complete with updated resources. Visit our blog for developments in the Israel-Hamas War, including varied perspectives on the viability of the two-state solution and more this week.
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