Simplifying Ukraine's war as a battle between western democratic values and post-Soviet imperial aspirations, or neo-fascist political movements and struggles for national liberation, does not further an understanding of this war. While these tendencies/ histories are present in the current conflict, it is only through an exploration of their inter-relation does one find a resolution. The war in Ukraine has been highlighted by black and white moments of right and wrong, but is defined by an overwhelming grey. More than 5,000 people have died in fighting, yet everything is less clear than when I first arrived in Maidan.
