War in Ukraine

As Russia ramps up its military machine and European leaders issue dire warnings, the continent faces a critical question: Can it mobilize fast enough to defend itself?

When Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it intended to end the war in just three days, with minimal casualties. Instead of supplies, Russian soldiers packed dress uniforms, expecting a victorious parade through the capital. But the war has turned into the greatest catastrophe of Putin’s rule, and one of Russia’s bloodiest military failures since World War II.

Outnumbered but not outmatched, Ukraine is using tech, strategy, and Western support to shift the balance in a war built on endurance.

Flames devoured rooftops. Smoke choked entire blocks. As air raid sirens wailed through the night, Kyiv’s firefighters ran toward the destruction that Russia had unleashed, once again.

Media outlets often frame Russia’s June attacks as revenge for Operation Spider Web, in which Ukraine destroyed dozens of Moscow’s strategic bomber jets. But this claim doesn’t hold up against the data: Kremlin orders missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian cities every single day , steadily growing in scale.

Russia wages war on Ukraine not only with tanks and missiles, but with paperwork, orphanages, and name changes targeting a generation of young Ukrainians—abducting them, militarizing them, and preparing them to fight against their own home. How does Russia transform stolen Ukrainian children into tools of its war and where are they now?