From Kyiv, a Ukrainian journalist assesses how the Prigozhin insurrection could impact Putin—and the ongoing war.
Arkady Budnitsky/ Anadolu Agency/ Getty Images.
On Friday night, June 23, Ukrainians went to bed with a glimmer of hope. We had all been living under the cloak of war for 16 months. But despite our usual underlying fears, people across the nation shared a common sentiment on that third evening of summer: At least tonight the Russians would have other things to distract them and wouldn’t bombard us with missiles.
The confounding events of the next day, of course, would dash our hopes. And yet, there were many reasons for a newfound sense that something momentous had occurred. That history had shifted. That President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power—and his hold over the lives of many millions of Ukrainians and Russians—might be slipping.
Read the full story in Vanity Fair here.