Two Years of War in Ukraine

It has now been two years since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. Last year, in February 2023, there was a prevailing sense of optimism and hope as the Ukrainian armed forces were able to hold back the Russian advance and even reclaim large swaths of territory. Now, 12 months later, that sense of optimism has been diminished to a great extent. Disappointing results from the Ukrainian fall counteroffensive along with stiff Russian defenses has left the battlelines in Ukraine largely unchanged. Furthermore, faltering Western support, most notably from the, United States and some European countries risks depriving Ukraine of crucially needed funds, equipment, and ammunition.

Guests:

Janice Stein is the Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management in the Department of Political Science and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. She was the Massey Lecturer in 2001 and a Trudeau Fellow. She was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for an outstanding contribution by a social scientist to public debate and has received Honorary Doctorates of Laws from universities in Canada and abroad. She is also an Honorary Foreign Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Senior Fellow of the Kissinger Center at SAIS at Johns Hopkins University. Her current research focuses on technology and public policy in the context of great power competition. Last year, she co-chaired the National Advisory Committee on Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy for the Minister of Global Affairs.

Andres Kasekamp was Professor of Baltic Politics at the University of Tartu in Estonia and Director of the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute before joining the Munk School. He has also been a visiting professor at Humboldt University Berlin and a visiting researcher at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs. His first book was The Radical Right in Interwar Estonia, and his second book, A History of the Baltic States, has been translated into nine languages. His research interests include populist radical right parties, memory politics, European foreign and security policy, and cooperation and conflict in the Baltic Sea region. He has served as the editor of the Journal of Baltic Studies, and is currently the President-Elect of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies. Prof. Kasekamp has appeared as an expert in the foreign affairs committee of the parliaments of Canada, Estonia, Finland and the European Union, as well as the Baltic Assembly. In November of 2022, he was officially sanctioned by the Russian Federation. 

Producers:

Antoine Fougère-Ramsamooj, Daria