Fatigue and endurance in the ‘summer of war’

Hardly anyone goes to bed nowadays wondering whether Kyiv will still be standing when they wake up. But the anxiety remains. You are reading the SWI swissinfo.ch newsletter with Swiss perspectives on the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. 

The war continues, but its face has changed. The monstrous attack by a great power on a country that is surprisingly capable of defending itself is now trench warfare. The terror has been portioned out, the massive invasion has become many battles for towns and stretches of land. It is a war of attrition. And at times compassion in the West also seems exhausted. 

Previously we focused on the economy, politics, the changed security situation and most recently the Ukraine Recovery Conference. This time it is about people – people who still think about war all day every day.

Jessica Davis Plüss investigated how Ukrainian refugees – mostly women – enter the Swiss labour market. “Many Ukrainians have been discouraged by the time it takes to secure a job in Switzerland,” writes Davis Plüss, who during her research met Hanna, a marketing entrepreneur. She is 42 and says she’s in the “most interesting time” in her career. 

Now she is a refugee who receives automated responses to her many job applications. “In the middle of all this uncertainty, a job would give me some stability,” Hanna says. Read this story about women who have to start from scratch. 

At the same time, Melanie Eichenberger visited an old Swiss man who was reminded by the war of his own childhood in Ukraine. Oskar Zwicky also had to flee when the Second World War reached the Swiss colony of Shabo on the Black Sea. 

His family’s flight to their original home, Switzerland, took six years. Zwicky, now 91, recalls: “For six years the entire family was under pressure. Where do we go next? Are we even welcome?” 

Peace in Europe currently seems to be a project that requires tremendous efforts and great patience. This became clear in Lugano, where Switzerland and Ukraine held a first reconstruction conference at the beginning of July. 

The Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Marija Pejčinović Burić, was also there. She told our democracy correspondent Bruno Kaufmann how long the road still is: “There will only be a real recovery if Ukraine fully develops its democracy. And that is closely related to the resilience, the resistance of democracy, and human rights across Europe.” Read the interview here. 

Thank you for your attention.