Although after the war ends, Ukraine will most certainly keep its status of an independent state, the final quality of its statehood and nationhood is undefined. Russia’s ongoing destruction of Ukraine has already changed its demographic, economic and social structure with the most severe long-term consequences. After the war, Ukraine will still exist, but it will be a different Ukraine with all consequences for its immediate and broader international environment.
The physical elimination of Evgeni Prigozhin and the commandment of the Wagner Group opens the question of the further use of mercenaries, not only in Ukraine but in wider regional context. Designed as a non-conventional solution of ‘delicate’ tasks abroad, Wagner and its leader turned into a ‘delicate’ question of Russian internal politics.