Vladimir Putin thought he would subdue Ukraine in a few weeks, but the Ukrainians have largely demonstrated their capacity for resistance, and their fierce desire to exist in an independent, modern and democratic nation.
Ukraine's resistance to the Russian invasion is a blatant denial of Vladimir Putin's murderous illusions. Ukraine, despite what it supports, exists and continues to exist. Ukrainians as a whole never doubted that they belonged to a strong, self-confident nation, ready to stand up for a long time to the imperial aspirations of an aging and weakened Russia. Ukrainian democracy intends to resist an all-powerful Putin who has, for more than twenty years, focused on concentrating all power in his hands.
The conflict will be long, the forces involved will be massive and its consequences, geopolitical and economic, will be major. Peace has left European soil and we are now faced with a war which recalls, somewhat falsely, the past but whose violence is very specific to the 21e century.
The texts collected here evoke these aspects: the nature of the war led by Russia, the limitless imperialism of an autocratic Kremlin, the Ukrainian patriotic feeling, or even the courage of a people determined not to lose a freedom for which they fought.