War in Ukraine: Update from Kyiv

131. UPDATE: Maksym Yali on expected Ukrainian counteroffensive - when, where and what’s at stake

Maksym Yali, Head of a Center for New World Order and Professor of International Relations at the National Aviation University in Kyiv, comments on when we are likely to see the Ukrainian counteroffensive commence, what's at stake and where it might take place.  
Maksym Yali on twitter: @maksymyali 
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

130. ANALYSIS: Daria Isachenko on Turkey-Russia relations, Nagorno-Karabach, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and trajectory of relations in 2023

Daria Isachenko, Associate at the Centre for Applied Turkey Studies (CATS) at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), discusses Turkey's relations with Russia in light of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine: Turkey-Russia relations and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, war in Ukraine, Presidential elections in Turkey this year, and how relations might change this year.  
More about Daria Isachenko's work
Daria Isachenko on Turkey's Stakes in the Russia-NATO Rivalry
Daria Isachenko on Turkey-Russia Partnership in the War over Nagorno-Karabakh 
Daria Isachenko on Turkey and Russia: The Logic of Conflictual Cooperation
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

129. ANALYSIS: Oleksa Drachewych on echoes of history in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine - implications of Bolshevik revolution; use of WWII narratives & brutal historical echoes in Russia’s invasion

Oleksa Drachewych, Assistant Professor in History at Western University, discusses the echoes of history in Russia's invasion of Ukraine: implications of the Bolshevik revolution and its aftermath, the use of narrative and symbols from World War II, and the brutal echoes of history in the way in which Russia has been carrying out the current invasion of Ukraine. 
The current Russian regime "by conflating the Soviet experience [in World War II] to being Russian - they are essentially removing the Ukrainian experience from the broader narrative." 
"The Russian rhetoric that tends to dehumanise Ukrainians very much mimics a lot of the way that the Soviet Union aimed to dehumanise the Germans, Romanians and others... during the Second World War... and that... dehumanisation then turned into violence and anger against civilians".
Oleksa Drachewych on Calls for peace in Ukraine a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion are unrealistic
Oleksa Drachewych on How Russia’s fixation on the Second World War helps explain its Ukraine invasion
Oleksa Drachewych on Putin's War on Ukraine and on History 
Oleksa Drachewych on twitter:  @ODrachewych
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer

128. DEEP DIVE: Jenny Mathers on heroism, gender and war - in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Jenny Mathers, Senior Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University discusses the intersection of gender, heroism, security and war - in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine: types of heroism, different trajectories of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Russian military, and how the war might play out this year. 
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: attitudes to women in the military are changing as thousands serve on front lines
Jenny Mathers on Women and the War in Ukraine
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: why Russian soldiers’ mothers aren’t demonstrating the strong opposition they have in previous conflicts
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war 12 months on: how Volodymyr Zelensky became the nation’s unlikely hero
Jenny Mathers on Ukraine war: what the last 12 months has meant for the ordinary Russian soldier
Jenny Mathers and Veronica Kitchen on Heroism and Global Politics 
Jenny Mathers on twitter: @jgmaber
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

127. ANALYSIS: Luca Anceschi on Central Asia and Russia’s invasion - recalibration of relations with Moscow, role of China in the region & view of the invasion from the region

Luca Anceschi, Professor of Central and East European Studies at Glasgow University, discusses the way in which Russia's invasion of Ukraine has impacted the Central Asian region: recalibration of relations with Moscow, how the region will navigate relations with both China and Moscow, and how the invasion is being viewed from the region. 
Luca Anceschi on Russia - Central Asian Relations in the Aftermath of the Invasion of Ukraine
Luca Anceschi on Analysing Kazakhstan's Foreign Policy: Regime Neo-Eurasianism in the Nazarbaev Era 
Luca Anceschi on Turkmenistan and the Virtual Politics of Eurasian Energy 
Luca Anceschi on twitter: @anceschitan 
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer 
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

126. ANALYSIS: Pavel Slunkin on Belarus’ position vis-a-vis Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenka’s relationship to Putin, and whether Belarus would participate in a direct invasion of Ukraine

Pavel Slunkin, visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, discusses Belarus' position vis-a-vis Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including what Pavel learnt from being present at the Minsk negotiations summit in February 2015, how Lukashenka's relationship with Putin has changed from Russia's territorial incursions into Ukraine in 2014 to Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, how the invasion is viewed from Belarus, and whether Lukashenka would commit Belarus to participate directly in Russia's war in Ukraine.   
More about Pavel Slunkin's work: Pavel Slunkin - European Council on Foreign Relations  
Pavel Slunkin on Why the Belarusian army cannot help Russia in Ukraine 
Pavel Slunkin on Why the Belarusian regime and its people are not one and the same
Pavel Slunkin on Why the West should keep a close eye on Lukashenka
Pavel Slunkin on twitter: @PavelSlunkin
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

125. ANALYSIS: Benjamin Herscovitch on China and Russia - China’s position vis-a-vis Russia’s invasion, how this position might change in 2023 & shape China’s approach to Taiwan

Ben Herscovitch, Research Fellow at the School of Regulation and Global Governance, on China's position vis-a-vis Russia and Russia's invasion of Ukraine, how this position might evolve in 2023, and how lessons China is learning from Russia's invasion of Ukraine are likely to shape its approach towards Taiwan in coming years. 
Ben Herscovitch's substack: Beijing to Canberra and back 
Ben Herscovitch on twitter: @B_Herscovitch
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer

124. ANALYSIS: Catrina Doxsee with a deep dive into Wagner’s relationship to the Russian state, changes in Prigozhin’s behavior and global security implications

Catrina Doxsee, Associate Director and Associate Fellow for the Transnational Threats Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), outlines the relationship between Wagner and the Russian state, why PMCs are not likely to be legalized in Russia, founding and evolution of Wagner, changes in Prigozhin's behavior, and global security implications of Wagner actiivty beyond Russia. 
'The fact that PMCs are not legal in Russia... gives Putin a tremendous amount of leverage over those PMCs...' 
'You have dissent within the ranks... as [Wagner] brings in populations out of prisons there's an intense social stigma between non-prisoners and prisoners in the ranks - as well as between the prisoners themselves given the very strict hierarchy socially in Russian prisons...' 
Catrina Doxsee on Putin's Proxies: Examining Russia's Use of Private Military Companies
Catrina Doxsee and Jared Thompson on The Wagner Group's Mounting Humanitarian Cost in Mali 
Jared Thompson, Catrina Doxsee and Joseph Bermudez on Tracking the Arrival of Russia's Wagner Group in Mali
More on the Transnational Threats Project
Catrina Doxsee on twitter: @catrinadoxsee
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

123. PERSPECTIVE: Kanykei Tursunbaeva and Mark Neville on operating under conditions of war, photography in conflict zones, and the project ’Stop Tanks with Books’

Kanykei Tursunbaeva, journalist, translator and Research Associate at the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Mark Neville, award-winning photo journalist working in Ukraine since 2015, discuss operating under conditions of war, taking photos in conflict zones, being a 'war artist' and the project Stop Tanks with Books. 
More about the European Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (EUASU)
Special issue of American Behavioral Scientist with EUASU scholars: Special Issue: War in Ukraine  
EUASU fund to support their work: Keep Scholars and Journalists Safe
Postcode Ukraine Charity - mentioned in the epside: Postcode Ukraine 
More about Mark's work: markneville.com
Kanykei Tursunbaeva on twitter: @k_tursunbaeva
Mark Neville on twitter: @NevilleStudio
More about the host: Jessica Genauer 

122. ANALYSIS: Niklas Masuhr on the Wagner group - activities, involvement in Ukraine, military and political implications

Niklas Masuhr, Senior Researcher and Military Analyst at the Center for Security Studies at the ETH Zurich University, discusses activities of the Wagner group; comparison of Russian and Chinese PMC activity; the role of the Wagner group in Ukraine and implications for the Russian domestic context. 
Charlotte Hirsbrunner and Niklas Masuhr on: Russia's Footprint in Africa
Allard Duursma and Niklas Masuhr on: Russia’s return to Africa in a historical and global context: Anti-imperialism, patronage, and opportunism
Julia Friedrich and Niklas Masuhr on: Why is Russia Being So Brutal in Ukraine? 
Niklas Masuhr and Benno Zogg on: The War in Ukraine: First Lessons 
Julia Friedrich and Niklas Masuhr on: Mercenaries in the Service of Authoritarian States
Jessica Genauer on twitter: @jessicagenauer
More about the host: Jessica Genauer