What defines Ukraine? With the war, a controversy has erupted over the political and cultural independence of the country. For many years, Karl Schlögel has traveled in Ukraine, and he has recently made trips there. Lviv, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Dnipro: all these names represent once-thriving cities, embodying a culture of their own significance. The West has ignored them for far too long, which also encouraged Putin in his expansionist policies. Seventy years after the end of World War II, cities in Europe are once again threatened with annihilation. In such times, Karl Schlögel's depictions of cities remind us of what is at stake not far from us. Anyone who truly wants to understand what is happening in Europe right now must look to the cities of Ukraine.