Long wars evolve and change, sometimes due to innovation and weapons, other times due to politics and personalities — but in all cases, there is a sharp change of context: the realities in which the war started cease to apply, and the new ones dictate events. The war in Ukraine has now reached this situation.
While Russia claims to still be fighting the same war for the same reasons, it is poorer, weaker, with a staggering amount of casualties and a population increasingly disgruntled. Conversely, while the people of Ukraine are tired of war and of Russia’s malicious bombing of civilian targets, it remains united in its opposition to Russia’s claims upon its lands and people, and ever more inventive in its capabilities and international outreach.
To better understand these shifting realities and Ukraine’s position, ELN Senior Associate Fellow Ilana Bet-El is joined by Hanna Shelest, Director of Security Studies at the Foreign Policy Council Ukrainian Prism, and Yuliia Shaipova, Affiliated Expert at Ukrainian Prism. Listen on YouTube, Apple Podcasts or Spotify to hear their meaningful conversation packed with many important insights!
This episode was recorded on 19 May 2026
Chapters
- What changed in the battlefield dynamics?
- Evolutions inside Ukraine and the current political landscape
- The impact of the Middle East war on Ukraine
- Perceptions of EU accession and future aspirations
- How could the negotiations progress?
Mentions
- Ukrainian Prism
- Russian losses
- Timothy Garton Ash, Homelands: A Personal History of Europe
Follow
- Hanna Shelest LinkedIn
- Yuliia Shaipova LinkedIn
- Ilana Bet-El
- Instagram @women_leaders_podcast
- Listen to this episode on our YouTube channel
Credits
- Production: Florence Ferrando
- Music: Let Good Times Roll, RA from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll License code: ZXIIIJUU2ISPZIJT
The European Leadership Network itself as an institution holds no formal policy positions. The opinions articulated above represent the views of the authors rather than the European Leadership Network or its members. The ELN aims to encourage debates that will help develop Europe’s capacity to address the pressing foreign, defence, and security policy challenges of our time, to further its charitable purposes.
Image credit: Florence Ferrando
