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War and Punishment: Putin, Zelensky, and the Path to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine.

Mikhail Zygar.

Scribner (2023).

ISBN: 9781668013731.

War and Punishment is a book by Mikhail Zygar, a Russian journalist and filmmaker, that traces the historical and political roots of Russia’s war against Ukraine. It presents

Zygar’s central claim is that Russia’s invasion grew out of a centuries-long pattern of oppression and distorted historical narratives about Ukraine. The book follows Russo-Ukrainian relations from the imperial period through the Soviet era and into the post-1991 years, emphasizing how Russian elites and ideology helped shape the path to war. Therefore, it tracks

Ukraine’s post-Soviet development, oligarchic politics, and the rise of a new generation of Ukrainians who saw themselves as separate from Russia. That shift, according to the publisher’s summary, is presented as a decisive turning point that Putin could not accept.

Zygar is described as having access to many major figures in the story, including politicians and oligarchs, and he also interviewed Volodymyr Zelensky. His background as an independent Russian journalist gives the book a strongly anti-imperial and anti-Kremlin perspective.

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