Special Edition: 4 Years of War: How Will Russia's Invasion End?
The NewsWorthy
Erica Mandy
4.7 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is about to enter its fourth year, we're asking: What are the stakes right now? Is a peace deal actually possible? And what would a just and lasting end to this war really look like?
Dr. Kristina Hook, an expert on Ukrainian-Russian relations and conflict management professor at Kennesaw State University, joins us to unpack what's happening behind the scenes of the latest peace talks, which pressure points actually matter for Vladimir Putin, and why many Ukrainians say the bigger question isn't when the war ends — but how it ends.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today is Saturday, February 21st. In a few days, Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine will enter its |
| 0:05.6 | fourth year, and really it's 12th years since Russia's first invasion in 2014. So what are the |
| 0:11.5 | stakes right now? Is a peace deal actually possible? And what would adjust and lasting end to this war |
| 0:17.0 | really look like? Today, we're joined by Dr. Christina Hook, an expert on Ukrainian-Russian |
| 0:21.5 | relations, a former Fulbright scholar to Ukraine, and a conflict management professor at Kennesaw State |
| 0:26.8 | University. She's conducted fieldwork across Ukraine for nearly a decade and has a book coming out |
| 0:32.1 | this fall about the Russia-Ukraine war. Today, she helps us break down what's happening |
| 0:36.3 | behind the scenes of these peace talks, |
| 0:38.3 | what pressure points actually matter for Vladimir Putin, and why many Ukrainians say when the war ends |
| 0:43.5 | is actually not their biggest concern. Welcome to the Newsworthy special edition Saturday, |
| 0:50.5 | when we sit down with a different expert or celebrity every Saturday to talk about something in the news. Don't forget to tune in every Monday through Friday for our regular episodes |
| 0:58.3 | where we provide all the day's news in less than 15 minutes. I'm Erica Mandy. It's now time for |
| 1:03.5 | today's special edition Saturday. Christina Hook, thank you so much for joining us here on the |
| 1:10.5 | Newsworthy. |
| 1:11.4 | It's my pleasure. |
| 1:12.7 | Talks between Russia and Ukraine resumed this week. |
| 1:15.0 | What are the stakes right now, in your opinion, and what's standing out to you the most about |
| 1:19.2 | these talks so far? |
| 1:20.8 | I'm thinking about a poster that I saw four years ago, and really the stakes haven't changed. |
| 1:26.0 | So that poster said if Ukraine stops fighting, |
| 1:28.7 | there will be no Ukraine. If Russia stops fighting, the war will be over. And with everything we're |
| 1:34.3 | seeing, with Russia's attacks against the people of Ukraine, targeting not just the Ukrainian |
... |
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