September invited Vlad and Nikolai* — left-wing social researchers from Russia and Ukraine, respectively — to reflect on how leftists on both sides initially responded when the full-scale invasion began. Together, they examine what that early analysis got right and where it fell short, trace how Ukrainian and Russian societies have been reshaped by years of war, and explore the particular challenges facing left-wing researchers on each side of the front line. *Names have been changed to protect the participants’ safety.

Murad Gattal on the causes and prerequisites for a new escalation in the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict and the transformations that it caused in Azerbaijani society.