Far-right parties are on the rise or already in power from Berlin and Paris to Rome and Zagreb -- not to mention DC. And yet many of those countries continue to lecture Ukraine about its unworthiness to join the EU and NATO -- even as Ukraine has proven again the sturdiness of its democracy.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

Far-right parties are on the rise or already in power from Berlin and Paris to Rome and Zagreb -- not to mention DC. And yet many of those countries continue to lecture Ukraine about its unworthiness to join the EU and NATO -- even as Ukraine has proven again the sturdiness of its democracy.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

Chastened by the protests, Zelensky replaced Syrskyi with Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, a decorated commander who last week gambled with his career when he publicly supported the ousted Fedorov. “Silence does not protect the army,” he wrote on social media. “It only allows mistakes to accumulate.”

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

Chastened by the protests, Zelensky replaced Syrskyi with Maj. Gen. Mykhailo Drapatyi, a decorated commander who last week gambled with his career when he publicly supported the ousted Fedorov. “Silence does not protect the army,” he wrote on social media. “It only allows mistakes to accumulate.”

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

The suspension of elections under martial law deprives Ukrainians of nearly all leverage to counter the government’s policy and personnel moves. Protests represent their lone option. And for the second time in a year, young Ukrainians forced the country’s most powerful elected official to back down.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

The suspension of elections under martial law deprives Ukrainians of nearly all leverage to counter the government’s policy and personnel moves. Protests represent their lone option. And for the second time in a year, young Ukrainians forced the country’s most powerful elected official to back down.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

After Syrskyi's ouster, Fedorov hailed Drapatyi’s selection as “a breath of fresh air and a new source of hope.” The same description befits the people of Ukraine, whose brave defense of their motherland extends to protecting its liberty from the president’s worst instincts.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

After Syrskyi's ouster, Fedorov hailed Drapatyi’s selection as “a breath of fresh air and a new source of hope.” The same description befits the people of Ukraine, whose brave defense of their motherland extends to protecting its liberty from the president’s worst instincts.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

"Their willingness to fill the streets even in wartime — even at risk of missile attacks — shows a devotion to and belief in democratic principles that should shame the older, allegedly democratic nations that persist in lecturing Ukraine about its unworthiness."

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

The firing of Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi marks a seismic triumph for the Ukrainian military’s new generation over an entrenched, Soviet-style command culture and strategic vision — and further inspires hope that the global institution of democracy might not be dead.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

The firing of Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi marks a seismic triumph for the Ukrainian military’s new generation over an entrenched, Soviet-style command culture and strategic vision — and further inspires hope that the global institution of democracy might not be dead.

This is what democracy looks like

For the second time in a year, street protests have forced Ukraine’s president to backpedal

martinkuz.substack.com

Almost 250,000 books went up in flames last weekend in Kyiv when a Russian missile incinerated a warehouse owned by the publisher Knyholove. Luckily, no one was hurt. But the attack called to mind a deadly strike on another publishing house in 2024. Reupping my piece about that act of terror.

A sorrow beyond words

For workers who survived a deadly Russian attack on a book publishing plant, there are no answers

martinkuz.substack.com

I contacted a handful of Ukrainian soldiers and veterans to gauge reaction to the Fedorov news. Each one lamented the defense minister’s firing. “Good things have been happening since he started,” one said. “It was a situation of ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.’ Now we wonder what comes next.”

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

I contacted a handful of Ukrainian soldiers and veterans to gauge reaction to the Fedorov news. Each one lamented the defense minister’s firing. “Good things have been happening since he started,” one said. “It was a situation of ‘If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.’ Now we wonder what comes next.”

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

A Ukrainian solider on the contrast between Syrskyi and Fedorov: “It’s like the drill sergeant from a Stanley Kubrick movie and Tony Stark. It’s not only about firing a good guy. It’s also about our understanding that the president chose the drill sergeant.”

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

A Ukrainian solider on the contrast between Syrskyi and Fedorov: “It’s like the drill sergeant from a Stanley Kubrick movie and Tony Stark. It’s not only about firing a good guy. It’s also about our understanding that the president chose the drill sergeant.”

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

“He was trying to make us more modern and less Soviet. With him gone, Putin is clapping.” Protests ignited across Ukraine this week after Volodymyr Zelensky’s ousted his drone-savvy defense minister. His removal jeopardizes the momentum Ukraine’s military has regained this spring and summer.

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

“He was trying to make us more modern and less Soviet. With him gone, Putin is clapping.” Protests ignited across Ukraine this week after Volodymyr Zelensky’s ousted his drone-savvy defense minister. His removal jeopardizes the momentum Ukraine’s military has regained this spring and summer.

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

“He was trying to make us more modern and less Soviet. With him gone, Putin is clapping.”

Wartime is a bad time for a turf war

Political infighting forced out Ukraine’s popular, drone-savvy defense minister. The move risks undercutting the military’s momentum and troop morale.

martinkuz.substack.com

I stood at the foot of my Ukrainian uncle’s grave, staring at the dates engraved on the cross: 8.3.1921 ✟ 24.4.1945. In that moment I felt a surging anger at Russia for its inbred depravity, for inflicting centuries of anguish on Ukraine, for dividing—then as now—those who live from those who die.

The lost fathers of Ukraine

On Father’s Day, recalling a WWII soldier from Lviv killed by the Red Army as Russia once again deprives Ukraine of its future ‘tatos'

martinkuz.substack.com

I stood at the foot of my Ukrainian uncle’s grave, staring at the dates engraved on the cross: 8.3.1921 ✟ 24.4.1945. In that moment I felt a surging anger at Russia for its inbred depravity, for inflicting centuries of anguish on Ukraine, for dividing—then as now—those who live from those who die.

The lost fathers of Ukraine

On Father’s Day, recalling a WWII soldier from Lviv killed by the Red Army as Russia once again deprives Ukraine of its future ‘tatos'

martinkuz.substack.com

Russia robbed my Ukrainian uncle of all life’s promise and any chance at fatherhood. Millions of his countrymen endured the same fate under Stalin and the Soviet Union, and generations later, Moscow’s renewed imperialism has killed tens of thousands more of Ukraine’s future fathers.

The lost fathers of Ukraine

On Father’s Day, recalling a WWII soldier from Lviv killed by the Red Army as Russia once again deprives Ukraine of its future ‘tatos'

martinkuz.substack.com

Russia robbed my Ukrainian uncle of all life’s promise and any chance at fatherhood. Millions of his countrymen endured the same fate under Stalin and the Soviet Union, and generations later, Moscow’s renewed imperialism has killed tens of thousands more of Ukraine’s future fathers.

The lost fathers of Ukraine

On Father’s Day, recalling a WWII soldier from Lviv killed by the Red Army as Russia once again deprives Ukraine of its future ‘tatos'

martinkuz.substack.com

"Stalin unleashed his secret police to quell support for Ukrainian nationalism with waves of arrests. My father recounted that neighbors started disappearing. Classmates whispered about the arrests of parents and teachers, artists and priests. Before long, students, too, went missing."

The lost fathers of Ukraine

On Father’s Day, recalling a WWII soldier from Lviv killed by the Red Army as Russia once again deprives Ukraine of its future ‘tatos'

martinkuz.substack.com

“Putin’s massacring of Ukrainians and the world’s vigilant cowardice in response reaffirms for me the absence of a higher authority. The brutishness of the tyrant abetted by the meekness of bystanders as a brave people bleed and bleed — this is our godless fate, our wretched earthbound reality."

War and faith

In Russia's invasion, I see the absence of the Almighty. But in Ukrainians, I find hope that man’s inhumanity to man need not be the epitaph of our species.

martinkuz.substack.com

A massive Russian missile and drone barrage across Ukraine tonight damaged the Pechersk Lavra monastery and Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv, one of the country’s holiest sites: shorturl.at/W0Vvr. It’s attacks like this one that led me to write the following a few days ago:

Kyiv's historic Pechersk Lavra burns as large-scale Russian strikes kill 4, injure 23 in capital

"We ask for prayers for the salvation of the shrine from destruction. Another Russian crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity," Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Chur...

shorturl.at

A massive Russian missile and drone barrage across Ukraine tonight damaged the Pechersk Lavra monastery and Dormition Cathedral in Kyiv, one of the country’s holiest sites: shorturl.at/W0Vvr. It’s attacks like this one that led me to write the following a few days ago:

Kyiv's historic Pechersk Lavra burns as large-scale Russian strikes kill 4, injure 23 in capital

"We ask for prayers for the salvation of the shrine from destruction. Another Russian crime against humanity, against history, against Christianity," Metropolitan Epiphanius, head of the Orthodox Chur...

shorturl.at

“From seminary to now, I have been a wartime priest because of Russia,” Roman said. He often smiled, possessed of an inner peace more common among Ukrainians living under bombs than Americans waiting in drive-thru lanes. “What I believe is we can support one another through the spiritual life."

War and faith

In Russia's invasion, I see the absence of the Almighty. But in Ukrainians, I find hope that man’s inhumanity to man need not be the epitaph of our species.

martinkuz.substack.com

“From seminary to now, I have been a wartime priest because of Russia,” Roman said. He often smiled, possessed of an inner peace more common among Ukrainians living under bombs than Americans waiting in drive-thru lanes. “What I believe is we can support one another through the spiritual life."

War and faith

In Russia's invasion, I see the absence of the Almighty. But in Ukrainians, I find hope that man’s inhumanity to man need not be the epitaph of our species.

martinkuz.substack.com