Just Finished Reading: Russia’s Road to War with Ukraine – Invasion Amidst the Ashes of Empires by Samir Puri (FP: 2022) [265pp] 

Whenever something significant or important happens in the world my first thought is always to look for books on the subject so I can understand it. The war in Ukraine is certainly no exception to this, and I’ve been accumulating a small(ish) stack of books since the conflict started. I had hoped to be reading them AFTER the fighting had stopped but FOUR YEARS later here we are. 

So, finally I’ve bitten the bullet (so to speak) and dived into the Ukraine War pile. This seemed to be a good place to start as it covered the recent history of how we got here – from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the declaration of independence, the various either pro or anti-Russian governments, the revolution, fighting in the Donbass, the Crimean takeover, discussions of Ukraine joining either the EU, NATO or both and, naturally, the subsequent invasion by Russia in February 2022. As this book was published not long after the invasion itself this receives little coverage in the text apart from the brief fighting and failed attempt to decapitate the Zelenskyy government in the ‘special military operation’ scheduled to last a few weeks at worst. If we needed a recent concrete example of a plan failing on contact with the enemy, we need look no further. 

Interestingly the author was ‘on the ground’ in the years running up to the 2022 invasion as an election observer. This certainly gave things an added spice to things. Although he wasn’t exactly ‘in the room’ for a lot of things he often found himself ‘on the street’ talking to locals and experiencing the tensions and the triumphs of the political process as Ukraine moved from a pro-Russian to pro-EU/NATO stance over a decade or so. Despite being clearly (and unapologetically) pro-Ukraine, he had some criticism for the EU, NATO, the US and Ukraine itself in how the situation prior to the invasion was handled. Specifically, the way the Russian demands (and fears) were effectively ignored and as NATO continued its expansion Eastwards. However, as this is an important point, he did not agree that Russia should have had any kind of veto in the matter of where Ukraine decides to place its political or economic interests. That is, and always has been, Ukraine’s decision to make as a sovereign nation. 

If you haven’t been fully keeping up with world events or wanted to know more about the recent foundations of the Russo-Ukrainian War this is definitely the book for you. It doesn’t go into too much detail, nor does it dwell too much on the actual fighting (for those not interesting in military affairs). It does give a very solid foundation to help understand HOW the war happened. Much more to come on the deeper history of Ukraine and on the last four years of fighting. 

[Oh, my 'intention' is to swing between books on Ukraine, Iran, Cuba and Taiwan in the coming months. If any other 'trouble spots' - Greenland? - come up I'll add those too...]