Bloody fighting, hybrid war: more than three years of war in Ukraine

With the war against Ukraine in its fourth year, we reflect on the situation in Ukraine and the broader hybrid war that Russia is waging against the West.

On February 24th 2025, it was three years since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. What Russia expected to be a quick victory has turned into a bloody conflict, in which the Russians have already lost more than half a million soldiers, while the Ukrainians continue to hold their ground – albeit pushed onto the defensive.

Meanwhile, the hybrid war that Russia is waging against the rest of Europe is becoming increasingly visible: ships sailing under foreign flags destroying critical infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, disinformation sowing chaos during elections in Moldova, and secret agents preparing (so far foiled) attacks on European airplanes and citizens. The conflict with Russia intensifies, but are we fully aware of the threat when only Ukrainians are doing the actual fighting?

We pause to reflect on the situation on the ground in Ukraine and examine the broader European context. What challenges lie ahead for both Ukraine and Europe in the coming period? How are these challenges affected by the growing momentum of radical right parties in the West? And is disinformation from the Kremlin being given free rein now that Meta and X have removed their fact-checkers and the American president blames Ukraine for starting the war?

This is a programma from our archives, which took place on the 24th of February 2025.

Speakers: Jean Charles Ellermann-Kingombe, Serhii Prokopenko, Kira Lebedenko, Pekka Kallioniemi and Janthe Van Schaik

Music by: Galyna Bilych, Mykhailo Bilych and Andriy Vasin

Programme editor: Veronica Baas

Moderator: Yoeri Albrecht

With support of NATO

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