War in Ukraine

World War II ended 81 years ago today. But rewind to the same point in days where Ukraine finds itself—victory was still far from sight. It was March 1944: much of Europe remained under Nazi occupation, D-Day was still months away, and Japan would not surrender for another 17 months. What the Allies did have, however, was a plan to act together. That would prove decisive.

A Soviet debt deal gave South Korea a fleet of Russian helicopters that became indispensable for fighting wildfires. More than 30 years later, Dallas Analytics has traced efforts to keep those aircraft flying back toward sanctioned Russian aviation companies—turning a firefighting necessity into an uncomfortable national-security problem.

On the day “Odyssey. Maeotis” was set to premiere in Kyiv, the city recorded an all-time daily high of 13 air raid alerts. A story of a man returning home after years of war was ready to take its first steps on stage in a city that knows all too well what it means to wait for peace, only for the war to once again interrupt the journey home.