Ukraine's EU bid: 'What we've achieved in a year is unthinkable by normal standards'
Remembering the shocking first few hours and days after February 24, 2022, Chentsov says: "From the rational point of view nobody expected that the Kremlin could go so far. Yes, we've been at war with Russia for the last nine years – at that point it was eight years – so we knew pretty well what Russia is capable of. But a year later I think we better understand why it happened, and the main reason is the degradation of the Russian state, of the Russian system; a lack of democratic control. And the result is one person taking a really crazy decision, and holding his own country and a neighbouring country hostage."


