Despite battlefield gains in 2022, the last year has brought significant hurdles to Ukraine's fight against Russia. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia reflect on the past year's events and consider what might be in store for the Black Sea region—and the world more broadly—in 2024. They discuss Western will and commitment to Ukraine, the future of Zelenskyy, Russia's war plans, and Biden's re-election prospects. Show notes: Sign up for The Eastern Front‘s...

Despite the European Council's recent decision to open accession negotiations with Ukraine, the country's EU membership is not exactly a foregone conclusion. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome Rikard Jozwiak, Europe reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), to discuss the potential obstacles to Ukraine's EU accession process and funding. To what extent does supplemental funding for Ukraine in the US affect EU decision-making over aid? What...

This week, European leaders agreed to begin EU membership talks with Ukraine, nearly two years after it was accepted as a candidate state. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome Ian Bond, deputy director of the Centre for European Reform, to discuss possible outcomes of accession talks. How might Hungary, who was the only EU member to block a recent aid package for Ukraine worth $55 billion, complicate matters? What role does the UK play in the future of...

In the second installment of The Eastern Front's two-part series on Armenia's security, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Ambassador Richard Kauzlarich, distinguished visiting professor at George Mason University, to discuss Azerbaijan's perspective on the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. What has accounted for Azerbaijan's aggressive posture towards its neighbors? What other ambitions is Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev harboring that the West may not fully understand? Why has China...

Nearly three months after Azerbaijan's seizure of Nagorno-Karabakh, serious concerns remain over the plight of tens of thousands of ethnic Armenians in the region. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome Dr. Shushanik Minasyan-Ostermann, postdoctoral research associate at the University of Bonn, to discuss the refugee crisis. Can Armenia trust Western nations to provide for its security? And if not, is Russia a viable alternative? How are Turkey and Iran's...

Only half the battle is over once Ukraine wins the war. If Russian President Vladimir Putin is to be prevented from finding yet another victim of his aggression, there must be credible deterrence to maintain a proper balance of power in Europe. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome back retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, NATO senior mentor for Logistics, to discuss strategies that can help Ukraine win this war now and deter Russia moving forward. Will joining...

In May 2023, Alsu Kurmasheva, a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), traveled to Russia to visit her ailing mother. While awaiting her flight back to the US in June, she was detained by Russian authorities and subsequently charged for failing to register as a “foreign agent.” If convicted, she faces up to five years in a Russian prison. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Jeffrey Gedmin, acting president of RFE/RL, and Pavel...

On November 8, the European Commission adopted the 2023 enlargement package, which recommended opening negotiations for Ukraine and Moldova to officially join the EU. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Oleksiy Goncharenko, Ukrainian parliament member, to discuss EU accession and Ukraine’s domestic politics. Do recent comments from Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, accurately reflect the state of Ukrainian democracy? What might...

When one makes a seemingly dramatic choice, they are faced with the option to either walk back the consequences that choice has engendered or be consumed by that choice. This is the predicament Russian President Vladimir Putin has found himself in, argues AEI's Dr. Leon Aron in his new book, Riding the Tiger: Vladimir Putin's Russia and the Uses of War. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia are joined by Dr. Aron to discuss his new book and the "house" that Putin...

Following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, The Telegraph's journalists created a podcast, Ukraine: The Latest, to provide daily analysis on the conflict from a variety of angles. Since then, it has become one of the leading sources for coverage on the war. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Francis Dearnley, assistant comment editor at The Telegraph and a voice on Ukraine: The Latest, to learn about the United Kingdom's perspective on...

This past weekend saw Donald Tusk—former Polish prime minister and the head of the largest opposition group, Civic Coalition—declare victory for his party following the 2023 Polish parliamentary elections on October 15th. The elections marked Poland's highest voter turnout in the history of its democracy. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Łukasz Fyderek, assistant professor at the Institute of the Middle East and Far East at Jagiellonian...

There has been a longstanding trope in the United States that Ukraine is a hopelessly corrupt country, which has abetted the growing movement in favor of withdrawing aid. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia welcome back Tamar Jacoby, director of the New Ukraine Project at the Progressive Policy Institute, to challenge misconceptions about Ukraine's corruption problem and discuss why a Democratic, Western-oriented market economy in Ukraine is just as vital to US...

Since WWII, the relationship between American and German strategic culture has been deeply intertwined. However, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was an external shock that fundamentally altered aspects of Germany's strategic culture, while leaving others untouched. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Heiko Biehl, head of the research department at the Center for Military History and Social Sciences at the Bundeswehr in Potsdam, to discuss the...

The international community is still reeling after Hamas launched a surprise air, sea, and land assault on Israel this past weekend that led to mass civilian casualties—the worst Israel has seen in its existence. In a pivot from The Eastern Front's usual content, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia discuss the massacre, the problem with the current discourse around the conflict, and its implications for US foreign policy. Is there a double standard applied to Israel that inhibits large swaths of the...

In the 1990s, Poland and Ukraine's real GDP per capita were roughly on par with one another. Over the span of 20 years, Poland has become almost three times as wealthy and is now a hub for Europe's capital market. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Dr. Marek Dietl, CEO of the GPW Warsaw Stock Exchange and economic advisor to Polish president Andrzej Duda, to discuss the rapid evolvement of Poland's economy. What was the catalyst behind Poland's...

Much of the criticism against Russia's invasion of Ukraine has come from Western political analysts, US and EU government officials, and the Ukrainians at the center of the conflict. Yet, seldom is the public at liberty to hear from Russian insiders who can best speak to President Vladimir Putin's strategic thinking. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia sit down with Andrei Kozyrev, Russia's first foreign minister from 1990-1996, to get his perspective on the war...

Since the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine has relied on Starlink—the internet technology company created by Elon Musk—to keep its communication networks alive and defend itself against Russian attacks. Yet, as the dominant power in the satellite internet space, Musk is in a unique position to decide the extent of Starlink's role in the war. Out of an alleged fear of escalating tensions with Russia, Musk has since taken measures to limit the use of Starlink in Ukraine for offensive...

There is a growing sense on some corners of Capitol Hill that the US has been unilaterally supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression. And with the Biden administration having failed to explain to the American public why Ukraine matters to the US, many members of Congress are urging the US to roll back its aid packages. On this week's episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Scott Cullinane, senior government relations advisor at Razom for Ukraine, an...

The recent appointment of Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, as Ukraine's new defense minister has brought to the fore the role of Tatars in Ukraine's fight against Russia. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Rim Gilfanov, director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Tatar Bakhshir service, to shed light on Tatars: Where do they come from and what is the history of their relationship to Russia? To what extent can we think of Tatars as a coherent group...

On the evening of August 23rd, news broke of Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin's death after Russian aviation officials listed him as a member on a flight that suspiciously crashed north of Moscow. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia convene to discuss what Prigozhin's death could mean for the Wagner group's legitimacy, the stability of Putin's regime, and the fate of the Russia-Ukraine War. Are the Russians able to achieve anything in Ukraine without Wagner? Does...

Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, policymakers and analysts have criticized the Ukrainian military for underperforming. This past week, the Washington Post published an assessment by the US intelligence community that claimed Ukraine's counteroffensive wouldn't fulfill its principal objectives, despite "tens of billions of dollars" of Western equipment. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle and Iulia speak with Mason Clark, senior analyst and Russia team lead...

Brady Africk was nearly a year into his role as a media relations associate at AEI when Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine took place. Feeling struck by the wrongness of the war, as he puts it on the podcast, he decided to harness his interest in the intersection between foreign policy and tech by publishing satellite imagery that tracked Russia's activities. Over a year later, Africk's maps are now a monumental asset to the war, having been featured in major news outlets and used by...

On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia offer their take on events from the last several weeks and predict what lays ahead for Ukraine. They discuss Russia's escalating attacks on Ukraine's grain industry and what it suggests about President Vladimir Putin's new offensive strategy, China's growing stake in the conflict, how upcoming elections in Poland and Slovakia might impact the EU's support for Ukraine, and whether this war is ultimately about preserving the...

In the second of The Eastern Front's two-part series on Black Sea security, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Admiral James Foggo (ret.), dean for the Center for Maritime Strategy, about strategies for enhancing freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. Are we currently experiencing a Russian blockade of the Black Sea? How should the US respond to Russian actions in order to deter future altercations, particularly against commercial ships? What should a NATO presence in the Black Sea look...

Russia is facing global criticism for its recent attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube river and the decision to pull out of a July 2022 UN-brokered deal that enabled Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea. Immediately following the pullout, Russian authorities warned that any vessel traveling to Ukraine would be considered an enemy combatant. On this episode of The Eastern Front, Giselle, Dalibor, and Iulia speak with Thea Dunlevie, senior analyst at the Center for Maritime...