Nearly one month ago, Russia shocked the world by launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As people all over the world scramble for a foothold of understanding in this era-defining conflict, host of the Jacobin podcast The Dig Dan Denvir sat down with Nick Mulder and Sophie Pinkham on March 10, 2022, to discuss the war, its origins, how it’s being perceived by Ukrainians, Russians, Americans, and Europeans, and the geopolitical ramifications of the Western response, particularly heavy sanctions.

Sophie Pinkham is the author of Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine. She has written about Russian and Ukrainian politics for the New York Review of Books, the New Republic, the New Left Review, and elsewhere.

Nick Mulder is a professor of modern European history at Cornell University. He writes about international politics and economics for a variety of magazines and newspapers and is the author of the new book The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War.