One Year Into the Ukraine War

Anne Applebaum: “I think what has happened is that the Ukrainians have shown, first of all, that their army and their military were far better prepared, psychologically, and in terms of planning, than anybody had guessed. The country didn’t produce lots of ammunition in advance. They didn’t reinforce their cities in advance. There were things in retrospect that could have been done, and if you go around Ukraine, you hear people say that. And it would have been nice to have wider, broader social preparation, but the army was prepared.”

“And the army has also shown itself to be very creative. It uses what equipment it has, whether it’s drones you can buy on the internet, and they call it MacGyvering. Fixing them up to be able to do other things they weren’t supposed to be able to do. They’re extremely creative. They use their weapons well. There is no hint, by the way, of any corruption to do with the army.”

“And the other thing that has been, again, not surprising if you knew Ukraine, but really, by comparison to other societies in other times and places, Ukrainian society, the way in which spontaneous volunteer groups have organized themselves, whether to help the army, or to help refugees, or to run cities: people really rising to the challenge in extraordinary ways.”