On Feb. 24, the University of New Mexico hosted a talk and documentary screening that recognized three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Erika Monahan is a UNM assistant professor of history with a focus on Russian history and politics. She has written several books about the Russian empire, including “The Merchants of Siberia: Trade in Early Modern Eurasia.”
At the event, called “‘Stories of Ukraine’: Three years of the Ukrainian People at War 2022-2025,” Monahan discussed her experiences with people who fled the war from both Ukraine and Russia, as well as the internal pressures the war has caused for Russia. She also emphasized the United States’ changing role in the crisis.
“This last week, we saw the U.S. administration announce a groundbreaking pivot in U.S. foreign policy,” she said, referencing the Trump administration’s shift away from support for Ukraine. “In 2019, Vladimir Putin was interviewed by the Financial Times and asserted that the liberal, democratic order had run its course. It was over, it was dead. Putin was saying that in 2019.”
This attitude, Monahan said, is not limited to Russia — it exists in the U.S. as well.
On Feb. 28, four days after the event at UNM, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the White House, where President Donald Trump, along with Vice President JD Vance, clashed with Zelenskyy.
In addition to discussing broader strokes, Monahan wanted to emphasize smaller, more intimate stories, sharing her personal experiences living in Germany when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began.
She shared a story of a Ukrainian family she hosted in Germany: a mother, father and three children. She said the children desperately wanted to get back, but their mother said she worried about ever letting her children play in the woods again for fear of Russian landmines.
The family never got the chance to return. A month later, their house was bombed, destroying all but one wall and maiming the dog who the family had been forced to leave behind.
“I could tell you many, many stories about the many people from the Ukrainian community,” Monahan said. “But I won’t; I want to spend a good amount of time talking about some of the things that have happened to people in Russia, too. Because it wasn’t random.”
She stressed the impacts of totalitarianism and propaganda in Russia.
“I think it is tragic how much freedom has been lost in Russia,” Monahan said. “The only way Russians win in this conflict is if the Russian government loses.”
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The other speaker at the event was Dominika Laster, an associate professor of theater and performance at UNM. She has also studied forced migration for the last decade. Laster has familial ties to Ukraine, including an elderly disabled aunt who has opted to remain in the country.
Laster’s presentation mostly centered on her field work with Ukrainian refugees in Poland. Her research specifically focuses on infrastructures of care that emerge in relation to forced migration, she said.
“In all my research with forced migration, I have not seen a situation like this where, first of all, 19 million people crossed through the border into Poland. Not all of them stayed, but a lot were admitted. Many were absorbed into civil society,” Laster said. “There were no refugee camps.”
Many refugees were received in homes or other quality accommodations, according to Laster.
She told one story of a man who hosted two Ukrainian boys who were jiu-jitsu champions, and ensured that they had a dojo and an instructor. The dojo allowed the boys to practice for free, ensuring they had a sense of normalcy and joy.
“People really stepped up. The entire infrastructure emerged from civil society. The Polish government, which was right-wing at the time, was really fumbling,” Laster said. “It was the people that would really emerge.”
Following the talk, there was a screening of the documentary “20 Days in Mariupol,” which won the 2024 Academy Award for Best Documentary. It follows Ukrainian journalists trapped in the city of Mariupol as they struggle to document the atrocities of the war.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
