Earlier this year, a young Ukrainian woman named Anna sent me an urgent email from a bomb shelter in Kharkiv. In the message, Anna requested that the educational organization I lead, The Fund for American Studies (TFAS), extend the deadline for her to apply to our summer program in Prague. Despite her life being endangered and her being stuck in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, Anna wanted to go to Prague to learn more about political and economic freedom, free markets, and the rule of law. But in addition to putting her life at risk, the war had presented a logistical challenge: obtaining a required letter of recommendation from her professor.
More than six months later, the situation has changed much from those desperate early days. Thanks to a stunning counteroffensive, Ukraine has recently retaken thousands of square miles of territory previously held since the start of Russia’s invasion. We seem to be entering a new phase of the war, the eventual outcome of which could be an end to hostilities and an independent Ukraine that is a member of the European Union.
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