Zelensky's latest American saga, and a reading list

Read my deep dive into the President's trip to the United States in my latest for Lawfare.

Hi all, and happy Monday, which officially kicked off Kyiv’s Fall with crazy winds and suddenly low temperatures.

Last week was especially long for everyone who followed Zelensky’s high-stakes visit to the United States, including yours truly.

It was very dramatic: Trump said at a rally that “Ukraine was gone”, and Speaker Mike Johnston bitterly demanded that Zelensky fires Ukraine’s popular Ambassador Oksana Markarova, all while the American media was quoting anonymous sources being unimpressed with Zelensky’s victory plan.

I analyzed the trip in my latest piece for Lawfare: Zelensky’s American Saga: Victory Plan and Angry Republicans. Read this as your weekly Ukraine briefing, it has everything you need to know.

Here are a few more things that I suggest you check out:

• The Economist published a grim overview of the war’s current state in their latest front-page piece, titled: The war is going badly. Ukraine and its allies must change course.

  I am a huge fan of The Economist not only for its stellar writing but also top-notch analysis. After Feb. 24, it has been one of the very few outlets publishing credible takes on the war and arguing that Ukraine can win if given the proper support. Their latest piece argues that Ukraine must accept the harsh truth of not having the resources to get back all its territory and think of how to build a prosperous future within that reality.

  It is profoundly sad for any Ukrainian to read but is also very necessary, and I highly recommend it.

  

• Center for Strategic and International Studies, a DC-based think tank, published a report called The Russia-Ukraine War: A Study in Analytic Failure, authored by Eliot A. Cohen and Phillips O’Brien. It has been making noise in online foreign policy circles, and for good reason: the report dives into the faulty assumptions and mistakes analysts made in the lead-up to the full-scale invasion.

  Most analysts were united in their assumption that Kyiv would fall within 72 hours. My good friend, and a security analyst, told me I should get ready for my home’s occupation two days into the full-scale war. So how come everyone misjuged the reality? Read the report (or at least its intro) to find out. You can also read this article in The Atlantic which summarizes it.

That will be all for last week’s coverage. I’ll be back over the weekend.

Cheers, and Glory to Ukraine

— Yours Ukrainian