’The war has had a profound effect on me’

Olga Burlyuk - What impact does the war in Ukraine have when Ukraine is the topic of your research, but you are also from Ukraine yourself? 'The war has had a profound impact on me. I am both the subject and the analyst.' A personal account by Ukrainian scholar Olga Burlyuk, and a warning that Western Europe underestimates the threat of this war. The threat for Europe, but also for Ukraine as a country. Olga Burlyuk is a scholar from Ukraine and studies Ukraine within an international context. She lives in Brussels and joined the University of Amsterdam in January. 'At that time we were still in lockdown, so it was only in February that I could start meeting my colleagues. And then the war started.