Armed Conflict

Lawfare Daily: A Tumultuous Week in Ukraine-Russia Relations, with Anastasiia Lapatina and Mykhailo Soldatenko

Benjamin Wittes, Anastasiia Lapatina, Mykhailo Soldatenko, Jen Patja
Thursday, June 5, 2025, 7:00 AM
Discussing Ukraine's drone strikes on Russian warplanes. 

Published by The Lawfare Institute
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It’s been a big week in Ukrainian-Russian relations. There were surprise attacks, an amassing of troops, the blowing up of bridges, and peace talks in Istanbul that didn’t really go anywhere. To talk through all of this and more, Lawfare Editor-in-Chief Benjamin Wittes sat down with Lawfare’s Ukraine Fellow Anastasiia Lapatina and Legal Fellow Mykhailo Soldatenko.

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Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.
Anastasiia Lapatina is a Ukraine Fellow at Lawfare. She previously worked as a national reporter at Kyiv Independent, writing about social and political issues. She also hosted and produced podcasts “This Week in Ukraine” and “Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World.” For her work, she was featured in the “25 Under 25” list of top young journalists by Ukraine’s Media Development Foundation, as well as “Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe” class of 2022 in the category Media and Marketing.
Mykhailo Soldatenko is an attorney in Ukraine and New York and an S.J.D. candidate at Harvard Law School. He was previously a senior associate at a leading Ukrainian law firm, practicing international dispute resolution. He is also currently a Legal Fellow at Lawfare.
Jen Patja is the editor and producer of the Lawfare Podcast and Rational Security. She currently serves as the Co-Executive Director of Virginia Civics, a nonprofit organization that empowers the next generation of leaders in Virginia by promoting constitutional literacy, critical thinking, and civic engagement. She is the former Deputy Director of the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison's Montpelier and has been a freelance editor for over 20 years.
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