former Commander-in-Chief

2025 was the deadliest year for civilians in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in 2022. It is an indicator not only of the war's intensity but of how fragile civilian systems remain in high-intensity conflicts. What this fragility looks like in practice is visible far from policy tables.

Wars are often measured in territory lost or regained. But history teaches us that the true measure of a nation's survival is found elsewhere: in its people, its institutions, and above all, its children. Russia understands this well. That is why it systematically targets Ukraine's schools. Nearly four years into Russia's full-scale invasion, every seventh Ukrainian school has been damaged. Almost 4,000 educational institutions have been partially destroyed, and hundreds more wiped out entirely.

Even amid a full-scale war, Ukraine has on the whole not witnessed the wartime explosion of graft often seen elsewhere. That is remarkable, a testament to its dynamic anti-corruption ecology. Yet progress is fragile. If trust erodes between anti-corruption actors or elites start to manipulate oversight institutions, the country could slip into what might be called a "social conflict model of anticorruption", where reforms become a battleground for power that benefits no one.