This is The New Yorker Radio Hour, a co-production of WNYC Studios and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick.

Ukraine has been fighting off the Russian army and the brutal calculations of Vladimir Putin for more than four years now, longer than the United

States fought in the Second World War.

Donald Trump has been reluctant at best about defending Ukraine since the start, and he's

said that he'll withdraw American support unless Ukraine makes enormous concessions of territory. And over the last month, America's war in Iran has only strengthened Putin's hand.

The oil crisis in the Middle East has raised the value of Russian oil exports.

Again and again, Donald Trump threatens to pull the United States out of NATO,

which also must really please

Vladimir Putin, even if Trump can't actually do it on his own. Russia is now sending drones to Iran

and has provided intelligence to be used against American forces. All of this was reported recently

in the Kiev Independent, an English language news site.

The editor is Olga Rudenko, who founded the Independent with fellow journalists in Ukraine.

I met Rudenko with some of her colleagues in New York late last year, and we spoke again recently.

She was in her office in Kiev.

Olga, it's very good to see you.

How has life been for you?

Well, it's, you know, it's gotten pretty tough in January.

So January and February were the toughest winter that we've had ever.

Tough because it's the most bombing you've seen in Kiev since the beginning of the war.

It is by far the most bombing.

And it's been, I mean, it's been this way since early 2025.

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