Yurii Marchenko

When was slavery abolished in your country? The Soviet Union’s myth was one of promised equality and progress. Yet millions lived as state-bound peasants—for them, serfdom was reintroduced and didn’t truly end until the 1970s.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began on the ground, it had already started with propaganda in the Russian language, recasting war as a “ special military operation .” Now, Moscow advances its surrender demands while branding them “security guarantees.”

Sergiy Stakhovsky once defeated Roger Federer on the tennis court. Today, the seven-time ATP champion is trading rackets for drones as part of Ukraine’s elite Alpha unit, striking deep inside Russia.

At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, few believed Ukraine could hold out—the imbalance of forces seemed too great. Yet the war has now lasted three and a half years, and Russian losses have long since topped one million. But does Ukraine have an overarching plan not only to defend itself, but to prevail?

A Kyiv penthouse with panoramic windows once embodied success. Now, it’s where people jolt awake to air raid sirens, counting the seconds: will they make it to a shelter, or is it safer to stay in the bathroom? Russia’s relentless bombardment has radically reshaped what Ukrainians call comfortable housing. Here are the main lessons.

Decades before Russian missiles rained on Ukraine, Moscow had already pulled off a quieter heist: seizing tens of billions in Soviet assets that rightfully belonged to Kyiv.