About

Basing his talk on the book which was a finalist for the Orwell Prize for Political writing, the award-winning Guardian journalist and \#1 New York Times bestselling author of Collusion and Shadow State, explains Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. For months, the omens had pointed in one scarcely believable direction: Russia was about to invade Ukraine. And yet, the world was stunned by the epochal scale of the assault that began in February 2022. It was an attempt by one nation to devour another.

This talk gives a compelling chronicle of the war that changed everything. For this breathtaking work of reportage, Harding spent months reporting on the ground during the build up to the conflict and afterward; his account tells of the initial days of shock and panic, the grim reality of this ongoing war, and the unheard human stories behind the headlines. Harding also offers insightful portraits of the war's two great personalities. One, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is an actor-turned-president who rallied support on a global stage. The other, Vladimir Putin, is a dictator who dwells in a strange and unreachable realm. Harding examines the ideological, religious and personal reasons behind Putin's decision to invade. And he confronts a crucial question: which side will prevail in this terrible war?

Harding notes: ‘My focus as a writer and correspondent is on the human story. I describe the horrors of Bucha and Mariupol; the grinding artillery battle in eastern Ukraine; and the mass graves and torture chambers found in former zones of Russian occupation. I travelled to the north-east Kharkiv region, to areas liberated in autumn by a Ukrainian counter-offensive. In November 2022 I visited bombed villages in Kherson oblast, in the south, days after a Russian pull-out across the Dnipro river’.

Luke Harding is a British journalist who is a foreign correspondent for The Guardian. He is known for his coverage of Russia under Vladimir Putin, WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden.
He was based in Russia for The Guardian from 2007 until, returning from a stay in the UK on 5.2.11, he was refused re-entry to Russia and deported the same day. The Guardian said his expulsion was linked with his critical articles on Russia, a claim denied by the Russian government. After the reversal of the decision on 9 February and the granting of a short-term visa, Harding chose not to seek a further visa extension. His 2011 book Mafia State discusses his experience in Russia and the political system under Vladimir Putin, which he describes as a mafia state. His subsequent books include WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy, The Snowden Files and now Invasion.

A Q&A Session will follow.