While winning and/or stopping the war in and against Ukraine remains paramount to the interests of most Ukrainians, the government included, the anonymously authored Substack and Telegram channels Events in Ukraine provide insightful, English-language coverage of other things going on both within and affecting the country. These include the role of oligarchs in the war, recent “de-oligarchization” reforms, pro-EU and anti-NATO sentiments among Ukrainians, class contradictions, and the unlikelihood of any sort of Marshall Plan for Ukraine’s post-war future.
From what I can tell, the author is an economically astute leftist with insights into the country’s politics that an outsider is unlikely to have. (He or she currently lives in a neighboring country, but that’s all I’ve seen divulged.) The author’s penchant for republishing translations of articles from the reputedly “pro-Russian” strana.ua site raises questions about their biases (though nowadays “pro-Russian” doesn’t mean the same thing as it did before February, which is why I add the scare quotes). That said, the two sites provide insights that are worth getting despite any question of “balancing” perspectives. I wish their anonymity didn’t muddy the picture.
I found the recent piece on “de-oligarchization” (and its follow-up) particularly interesting; it’s worth reading as a counterpoint to the recent piece on “democratization” that I shared here.
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