Volodymyr Zelenskyy Archives

Politics

“Things Happen”

Staging sovereignty

November 19, 2025 • by Arthur Goldhammer

We have become accustomed to the Oval Office ritual by which Trump stages his pugnacious primacy. The protocol of the traditional press conference, in which the president stands and the press remains seated until recognized, is inverted. Trump sits as if enthroned on one of his gilded chairs, though not ...

Europe & Central Asia

Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine

The philosophical implications of Zelensky’s decision to stay in Kyiv

September 30, 2024 • by Timothy Snyder

This lecture was delivered as part of a benefit conference for the Ukrainian academy that Aaron James Wendland organized in March 2023 at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. The benefit conference was designed to provide financial support for academic and civic ...

Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine

Democracy

The Only Way War in Ukraine Can End

On Jessica Pisano’s Staging Democracy and the function of political theater

March 28, 2023 • by Jeffrey C. Goldfarb, James Miller and Jessica Pisano

Zelenskyy’s approach to political leadership has been focused on creating conditions that allow people to self-mobilize and self-govern....

Europe & Central Asia

People’s War and Nuclear Fear: The Anti-War Left and Ukraine

A response to James Carroll’s reckoning with peace activism

October 26, 2022 • by Jeremy Varon

America was duty-bound to save Ukrainian lives, if at the expense of Ukraine’s sovereignty. But there is an uncomfortable arrogance to this argument, framed as tough love. Perhaps the Ukrainians themselves should determine what’s worth fighting and dying for, not the U.S....

People’s War and Nuclear Fear: The Anti-War Left and Ukraine

Europe & Central Asia

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

The renewed threat of nuclear war—and the importance of distinguishing between fear and anxiety

October 25, 2022 • by James Carroll and Robert Jay Lifton

Nuclear complacency is multifaceted. A certain amount of nuclear fear is appropriate to our situation. When we give in to what you’re calling nuclear complacency, it’s because we have insufficient fear of what is actually dangerous....

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

Europe & Central Asia

Part 6: A New Treaty?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

October 10, 2022 • by James Carroll

In this unprecedented context, a laserlike focus on banning the bomb can be a politically viable process, surpassing the failed efforts of bygone years, and even leading to the broader mitigation of “militarism” toward which peace movements have striven without success....

Europe & Central Asia

Part 5: After Ukraine

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

October 3, 2022 • by James Carroll

The Ukraine war has revealed, that is, that the single stoutest pillar of the current strategic “balance” is off kilter—a dangerously leaning tower, as it were, of peace....

Europe & Central Asia

Is Putin Bluffing in Ukraine?

Though many Russians are anxious about Putin’s new mobilization of citizens to fight in Ukraine, some are also preparing to survive a nuclear conflict

September 28, 2022 • by Anastasia Shteinert

Putin’s nuclear threats provoked immediate reaction among leaders of Western countries, including Ukraine. The world community is concerned about Russian tactical nuclear weapons intended for use on a battlefield. ...

Europe & Central Asia

Part 3: Nuclear Dread Redux

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

September 19, 2022 • by James Carroll

Putin’s aggression was destroying cities, but it was also destroying what was left of the nascent impulse to move away from the absurdly named “Balance of Terror.”...

Europe & Central Asia

Part 1: A Just War?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

September 7, 2022 • by James Carroll

In nations bracketing the North Atlantic a great sigh of relief could almost be heard: how great to be free once more to demonize Moscow....

Europe & Central Asia

Making Sense of the War

As the shock of war gives way to reflection, Ukrainian public discourse has turned to questions of the past, present and future

July 6, 2022 • by Tatiana Zhurzhenko

In Ukraine, the initial shock, anger, and sorrow have slowly given way to the sober realization that the war is not going to end soon. The first month passed like one day, but meanwhile, the feeling of time has returned. People and institutions are adjusting and even trying to make ...

Europe & Central Asia

Liberalism Needs Nationalism

A young person reflects on the war in Ukraine—and her generation’s yearnings

June 21, 2022 • by Sophie Boulter

In our yearning moment, nationalism can fill liberalism’s void—a void left by valueless chaos and unfulfilling choices. It is time to follow Ukraine’s lead and forge a civic nationalism that inspires everyone to find their stake, their anchor, within the sea of globalization. ...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy

“Things Happen”

Staging sovereignty

Thinking About Freedom in Wartime Ukraine

The philosophical implications of Zelensky’s decision to stay in Kyiv

The Only Way War in Ukraine Can End

On Jessica Pisano’s Staging Democracy and the function of political theater

People’s War and Nuclear Fear: The Anti-War Left and Ukraine

A response to James Carroll’s reckoning with peace activism

Robert Jay Lifton on Psychic Numbing and the Warning from Ukraine

The renewed threat of nuclear war—and the importance of distinguishing between fear and anxiety

Part 6: A New Treaty?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Part 5: After Ukraine

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Is Putin Bluffing in Ukraine?

Though many Russians are anxious about Putin’s new mobilization of citizens to fight in Ukraine, some are also preparing to survive a nuclear conflict

Part 3: Nuclear Dread Redux

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Part 1: A Just War?

Revelations of the War in Ukraine: An anti-war activist’s personal and political reckoning

Making Sense of the War

As the shock of war gives way to reflection, Ukrainian public discourse has turned to questions of the past, present and future

Liberalism Needs Nationalism

A young person reflects on the war in Ukraine—and her generation’s yearnings

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